Sand Knight
by Trivea
Summary: Hinata disappeared for nine months, only to come back as different from her old self as night and day. The rest of her friends are curious, and the thing is that she had some sort of relationship that she refuses to discuss. GaaHina, KibaHina onesided
1. Call and I will Answer

Sand Knight

Chapter One: Call and I Will Answer

Disclaimers: I don't own Naruto. Um...what else...OH! WARNING! You are subjecting yourself to my FIRST ever Naruto fic...don't say I didn't warn you...(Sigh) Well, here we go.

Yeah, yeah, it's a GaaHina fic with some KibaHina one-sided...yeah, yeah, it's gonna have flashbacks. It starts in about the middle of the story, and then goes back to the beginning in chapter two. So if you tell me you were confused by this...I'm gonna direct you back to this disclaimer. LOOK! LOOK! (Point, point)

If I don't get all of the attacks right, or something all...screwed up, attribute it to me having seen less than 50 episodes and call it an AU, if it makes you happy...or tell me, but not in that snotty, holier-than-thou tone. I get that tone enough from my grandmother. Feedback, constructive criticism, and reviewers simply telling me how great I am are always appreciated (but I don't have an ego). However, flamers are NOT tolerated, and you will be openly disrespected and mocked in the chapter after your comments. You were warned...

_Current Song : 1000 no Kotoba piano version from Final Fantasy X-2_

Oh! This is gonna be a fairly long chapter...sorry. I doubt the rest of them will be as long as this one, but if I get good reviews...I'll see what I can do!

* * *

_You always said nothing could stop you...right?_

_Did you mean that?_

_Did it mean you would have hurt even me to get what you wanted?_

_I never asked, because I thought you wouldn't answer._

_But I thought that...if I _had_ asked..._

_Your answer would have been no._

_Maybe that was just whimsical thinking on my part._

_My family always called me a silly dreamer._

_Then again...I suppose it's too late to ask you now, ne?

* * *

_

"Another bowl, please!"

Four sets of eyes rolled as the blonde yelled that phrase for...what...the fifth time in half an hour?

"Is that some sort of record?" Shikamaru asked from Naruto's left, leaning forward to look at Sasuke, who was on the blonde's right and had his face buried in his hands and was muttering something that sounded distinctly like 'Why me...?'

"Well, it was your own fault, ya know," Kiba said from Shikamaru's other side, idly sipping from the glass in his hand as he looked at the Uchiha clan member, who didn't seem to be paying attention.

The main reason Sasuke was so distraught about the situation was that he was paying for it. He had lost a bet, merely because he had gotten careless. Naruto had challenged him to a race, even though the black eyed boy was considerably faster than the blonde (until he got pissed).

Naturally, he had accepted the challenge, figuring he would be done in ten minutes, tops. Naruto had chosen the course, and if drawn on a map, the line would look like the trail of a mosquito on drugs.

They had gone over the bridge, where part of the fence was being repaired and some children had been fishing. And in the one moment Sasuke had given a sigh over how stupid the whole matter was, he stepped on a dead fish and went plummeting through the open hole in the broken fence.

By the time he got out of the water, back to the bridge, and to the finish line, Naruto had won.

So there they were, at Naruto's restaurant of choice, emptying Sasuke's wallet as fast as humanly possible. Sakura had come along to taunt him, Kiba had come along because he and Akamaru were both thirsty, and Shikamaru had come along...well, the only apparent reason was so he could complain about being there. To be honest, he didn't know why the brunette bothered to do anything, since he seemed to see _breathing_ as troublesome.

"How troublesome," Shikamaru muttered. Everyone else had decided that that was the boy's own personal catch phrase now, since they never heard _anyone_ else say 'troublesome'.

"Oh, yeah, I heard something interesting today," Sakura said, breaking the silence she had been in for the past ten minutes. The four males shifted their attention to her, Naruto having half the bowl of ramen hanging out of his mouth.

The pink haired girl smiled. "I was talking to Tenten-chan and Lee-kun earlier today. They said Neji-kun had told them Hinata-chan was finally coming back today."

* * *

She stared at the outskirts of the forest, clutching a small silver bracelet to her chest. The shine could barely be seen through her slightly parted fingers.

They had parted ways hours ago, quite a distance from where she was now. She had been so confidant then, but all of that had been sucked from her the moment she had arrived at the forest's edge. She was close...she knew that. And it was only noon. If she started now, she would be there by two-thirty with no problem.

But she couldn't get her feet to move.

She had fled nine months ago. She had wanted to get stronger, to prove her worth as the Hyuuga heiress, to prove her right to fight beside Kiba and Shino. But more than that, she wanted to prove to herself that she could do it.

She was worried. What would they say when they saw her? Was she truly any stronger? Would they, her friends, accept her back into the circle, or reject her just as powerfully as her family had?

She shook her head fiercely. What would he say if he saw her like this?

Simple. Nothing.

He'd just laugh.

The white eyed girl forced her back to straighten, her shoulders back, and her head up high. She wasn't cowering back to Konoha, and she didn't want to give that impression.

When they saw her...she wanted to look full of pride, full of the confidence that Neji had always said she could never obtain.

She lowered her hands and looked at the bracelet – it was soaked in sweat. Had she really been that nervous?

She shook her head violently again and clasped the silver ring around her right wrist.

She was no longer a weakling. She knew that.

With that last thought, she took the first step into the forest and leapt into a tree. What had once been nervousness had taken shape into an eagerness for them to see what she had become.

And from now on...Hyuuga Hinata was not one to run from anything.

* * *

"WHAT!" Naruto cried, spraying the other three males with half-chewed ramen in the process. Sakura had been expecting that reaction, and had created a small shield of chakra to intercept the Noodle Torpedoes. Yeah, sure, half-chewed noodles seeming to float in thin air wasn't a pretty sight, but it was better than the alternative.

"You heard me," the pink haired girl said in an exasperated tone, flipping her hair over her shoulders. Over the past few years, she had let it grow out again, and now that she was eighteen, it was down to about the same length it had been when she had been forced to cut it in the Chuunin exam.

In all those years, little had changed, save a few relationships. Sakura had finally given in to Lee asking her out, and they were actually a pretty happy couple. In addition to that, the strangest couple in the village had been created. It had been weird when Shikamaru had asked Ino out...and even weirder when the blonde had said yes.

They all also looked roughly the same as they had – sure, they were taller, better built, had sharper facial features...but they still had the same hair, personalities, and (as far as some went) the same clothing. Akamaru still rode around in Kiba's coat, even. She assumed that it was sort of silly, since they all still acted like twelve-year-olds, but she also knew it would be weird if Naruto tried to be mature.

"This is great! Great, I tell you!" the blonde kitsune exclaimed, slamming his empty bowl down as Shikamaru groaned and picked a vegetable out of his ponytail, Sasuke rubbed his face with a napkin, and Kiba restrained his dog from...er...cleaning the countertop.

"So she's actually still alive?" the boy with the painted face exclaimed as he shoved Akamaru back into his coat, glee in his voice. He had missed the leaf nin, both because she was his friend and Shino _really_ got on his nerves sometimes.

"Un," Sakura said with a nod. "Neji-kun said he got a letter from her a few days ago. Apparently, the two of them got on better terms just before she disappeared."

"Did he find out why she left?" Sasuke asked, dragging the rest of them out of the ramen shop before Naruto recovered from the distraction and ordered again.

"Something about getting stronger..." the pink haired girl said with a shrug. "But either that's all it said, that's all Neji-kun would tell Tenten-chan and Lee-kun, or that's all they would tell me."

"But Hinata-chan is coming back!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air as Kiba dragged him by the back of his shirt.

"You just miss her cooking, don't you, baka?"

"Uh...maybe?"

THWACK.

"OWWW! Sakura-chaaaan, that hurt!"

"GOOD!"

* * *

It had been a long time since they had all gotten together, just to talk. Of course, waiting for Hinata was reason enough for all of them to be near the town gates.

Apparently, Shikamaru had said something moronic again, because Ino and Tenten were both chucking rocks at him and screaming, 'SEXIST PIG!' The brunette had chosen Choujii as a shield, and the rocks just bounced off him as he consumed his fourth box of Twinkies that day.

Kiba and Naruto were getting into another semi-good-natured argument, which was stopped by Shino making ants crawl up under their shirts. Sasuke was still planning the day in which he would get his revenge on the blonde kitsune, and Lee was doing a horrid job of helping him look on the bright side.

Sakura giggled as she watched all of this. To be honest, all of the teams hadn't gotten together too much since Hinata left. It had really bummed Kiba and Shino, and when _Kiba_ was down, everyone in the vicinity needed anti-depressants. It wasn't that they felt bad for him...it was just that he was _that good_ at taking control of any situation he was in.

The pink haired girl looked over at Neji, who was sitting on a bench and unconsciously glancing at the gate every three seconds. She had never seen the Hyuuga male this anxious before...she supposed he was worried about his cousin. That was good, though...it was how families were supposed to treat each other.

Finally, Tenten stopped her assault on Shikamaru and plopped down next to Neji, swinging her legs. "Oh, for heaven's sake, you look like a father who's daughter is coming home late from a date," the Chinese girl said teasingly, sticking her tongue out at her teammate.

"Hn..." he said distractedly before sighing and closing his eyes, leaning back on his arms. "It's not that I'm _worried_ or anything. I'm just..."

"...worried!" Tenten finished for him.

"That's _not_ what I was going to say."

"Sure it was."

He glared at her. She merely smiled back, using the smile she reserved specifically for annoying him. He opened his mouth to retort, when he was cut off by a gentle voice.

"Konnichiwa, mina-san."

Even the rock Ino had just thrown seemed to pause in midair as everyone redirected their attention to the gate...and froze immediately.

It was Hinata...at least, they were fairly sure it was. Same eyes, same hair color, same smile, same voice, same Konoha forehead protector around the neck...and the similarities ended there.

She had grown taller in the past nine months – that was for sure. Her hair, which she had always kept very short, had grown out to her shoulder blades. It was also parted to the side, a few strands falling over her right eye. Her coat was gone, and in its place she wore form-fitting dark blue jeans, a dark red tanktop, and a long-sleeved fishnet shirt. The silver bracelet still glittered pointedly around her wrist.

"Wow! You look great!" Naruto exclaimed, being the first to find his voice.

She smiled brightly at him. "Arigatou, Naruto-kun."

The blonde grinned at her, but the rest of them blinked. No blush? No poking-together-of-the-forefingers-thing? No stutter?

"KYA! I LOVE YOUR HAIR!" Tenten shrieked with enough force to knock Neji backwards, leaping to her feet. She then barreled over to the white-eyed girl, clasping her hands over the other's. With that, she began barraging her with questions. "Where were you! What have you been doing!"

"Calm down, Tenten," Lee said with a sweatdrop, standing up and waving his hand to his teammate. She had seemed to get even more hyperactive in the past few years. The others quickly made their way over to Hinata...with the exception of Kiba. He was still in a bit of shock.

_That...was Hinata...?_ he asked himself in his daze, blinking a few times. _Whoa..._

Akamaru's questioning bark brought him back to reality. "Huh? O-oh...right," he said with a nod, heading over as well. Well, _that_ reaction was a first...

* * *

"Come on, come on, come on, come on!" Tenten coaxed, bouncing up and down slightly on her bed with her pillow hugged to her chest. The motion shook the whole mattress, sending Sakura, Ino, and Hinata into a bit of the motion with her.

Hinata laughed. And here she had been worried about them not accepting her back.

Once she had finally stopped with the questions, the Chinese girl had declared that the four of them were going to have a sleepover at her place. She had strictly ordered all guys to stay as far away as possible, much to their indifference. Even so, she considered the possibility of this only being a façade and had put a tight chakra shield around her entire apartment.

Hinata had, of course, gone by the main house first, to apologize to her father. In their brief meeting, she discovered that Hanabi had taken over her place as heiress to the Hyuuga family name. And she was quite surprised at how little she cared.

As soon as they had heard of this, Sakura, Ino, and Tenten had immediately began making plans for Hinata's immediate removal from the main house and into one of their apartments until she could get her own. Sakura had the largest out of the three, so she had offered to let Hinata stay. Well, she called it an offer, but it was more of a command.

It was surprising how well Sakura and Ino got along now that they both had boyfriends that weren't Sasuke. In fact, on their way to the main house, Neji told her that the two were practically joined at the hip. Hinata supposed it was because they both had boyfriends to vent to each other about, and it seemed as though they did so a lot.

"Tell us," Tenten pried, poking the Hyuuga girl once she had stopped bouncing.

"Yeah," Ino said with a grin, bracing herself back on her arms. "You didn't blush or stammer when Naruto _complimented_ you. Something's gotta be up. Did you get a new boyfriend?"

"N-no! Nothing like that!" Hinata exclaimed, throwing her hands over her face to hide her blush. The other three exchanged wicked grins. They had hit right on the mark...or, at least, close to it.

"A new crush then?"

"..."

"Well?"

"..."

"I can't hear you!" the three said with wider grins.

"I-It's...j-just a n-new crush..." she mumbled into her hands.

The three giggled. "That's great, Hinata-chan!" Sakura exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "Was it a boy you met while you were traveling?"

She nodded, finally lowering her hands to reveal her shy smile. "Actually...I was traveling _with_ him..."

"Ooooh," all three chorused at once. "Anyone we know?"

"Well, uh...agh, this is embarrassing!" she exclaimed with a crimson blush, waving her arms. (A/N: Is this what normal girls talk about during sleepovers? The only 'sleepovers' I have is with my half-sister, and we just talk about hot anime guys coughs)

"Is he sweet?"

"He can be..."

"Meh, lucky," Ino said with a mushroom-cloud sigh, leaning back on her arms again. "The closest to 'sweet' Shika-kun ever got was taking me to a fast-food place and not making me pay for the whole thing."

"Well, then why do you stay with him?" Sakura asked, nudging the blonde with her elbow gently. "Ne, ne?"

Ino coughed into her hand, blushing faintly. "Certain things. He has talents in areas besides fighting."

The other three burst into giggles at that. Once it calmed down, Sakura sighed. "I can't get Lee-kun to _stop_ being sweet. He proved that he would die for me during the Chuunin exam, but he can stop reaffirming that idea now. He keeps getting himself hurt just to show off."

"At least you two _have_ boyfriends!" Tenten said, crossing her arms over her chest.

The other three blinked at her. "Demo...I thought you and Neji-kun..." Ino began.

"Yeah, we're 'dating', but we haven't gone out more than once."

"Really!" Hinata exclaimed, leaning foreward and blinking at her. "He didn't tell me this!"

"Is he really the type?"

"Aw, why am I always the last to find out about these things...?"

Tenten smiled at her, ruffling her hair. "If you don't want to miss things...don't disappear on us anymore."

* * *

Kiba leaned against the railing of the balcony outside his apartment, pulling off his hood and ruffling his hair. He still couldn't believe he was still so shocked at seeing Hinata.

Well, he had known that she was going to be at least a bit different...but in appearance, she was barely even the same person anymore. Something had happened while she was out there, and both he and Shino wanted to know what.

However, they also knew that if the Hyuuga girl didn't want to talk about it, there would be nothing they could do to pry it out of her.

Folding his arms on the metal railing, Kiba leaned forward again and rested his chin on his wrists. Akamaru stood beside him, giving him another questioning bark as he flopped into a sitting position.

"Nah, it's nothing, Akamaru. I was just thinking, that's all."

"Rff!"

"I have _not_ been acting weird since Hinata got back," he said defiantly, closing one eye and looking away with the other. "I'm just...thinking, that's all. Really, I'm wondering if she's gonna want to return to the team again. I figure Kurenai-sensei will probably want her to, but she won't force it if Hinata doesn't want it."

"Rff?"

"No, I won't force her either. But I really do hope she will...otherwise, we'll have to get a new teammate, and they might be even more annoying than Bug Freak."

"Rff!"

"WHAT!" Kiba exclaimed, the paint on his face now blending in with the color of his skin. "I was _not_ staring at her when she got here! Meh, I couldn't care less," he added indignantly, turning his head from his dog.

Yeah. He was having to defend his pride from his _dog_. How lame could you get?

He coughed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm going to bed," he said as he retreated back inside. He could almost swear he heard Akamaru laughing at him.

'Smart-ass dog.'

* * *

Neji, who had been unable to get to sleep for an hour, finally gave up for the time being and stood, making his way over to the window. He pulled open the large curtains and flung the glass open, sighing as the cold air rushed into the room.

Hinata had taken the news of Hanabi's promotion to heiress much better than he had counted on. She had just nodded, telling Hiashi that if that was his wish, she would abide by it.

However, he had reveled in the look of sick astonishment he had seen on Hanabi's face. She knew that the girl had probably wanted to see her older sister cry, the little bitch. Neji had never liked her, and that didn't exactly help relations any.

When Hinata had first left, they were barely on grudging good terms. They had actually had a conversation the day prior to her disappearance. He had figured if they were going to start liking each other, it would be a gradual thing, slowly acquired over time.

Yet when he found out about her practical disownment from the head family, all the hostility he felt towards her seemed to be sucked away. It was as though he realized that she was really no different than he was, being a member of the branch family and never receiving any of the respect he knew he deserved.

Now, he felt a duty to protecting Hinata from pretty much anything that could harm her, including anyone else of the male gender. He had seen how Kiba was staring so intently at the girl, and he didn't like it at all.

'...Tenten's right, I am acting like a father,' he thought with a groan, burying his face in his hands.

* * *

Hinata lay awake long after all the other girls had gone to sleep. Her thoughts were just too preoccupied at the moment for her to be able to rest.

She stared down at the bracelet, which remained around her wrist. To be honest, she felt like crying. But she wouldn't – she knew the effect tears would have on the metal.

_If your blood or your tears touch this bracelet, it will summon me._

She didn't want to summon him here needlessly. Of course, she could be careful and try not to get the tears on the silver ring...but then she would feel as though she were hiding something from him.

_Call and I will answer._

A smile touched her lips despite the tears welling in her eyes. She knew he either cared, or felt a duty to protect her. In either case, it was good, right? It meant they were at least friends, right?

Hugging her wrist to her chest, she closed her eyes and forced the liquid in them back. She would keep her mind on him; help keep the worries out of her mind with his words. She felt that it would be the only way she could sleep.

* * *

Starr: WOO! First chapter, done with! It's...fourteen pages, rock on (throws her hands up in the air in glee)

Meh...maybe I made Kiba a bit shallow...oh well! Oh, and can anyone tell me if Shino EVER removes his sunglasses, and if so, what color his eyes are? If not, I'm gonna have to make some stuff up eventually (sigh)

Well, like I said, reviews are vastly appreciated.

Gaara: If I'm part of the cannon relationship of this stupid plot, why wasn't I in the first chapter?

Starr: Well, one, you'll be in the next one, and two, you threatened me with Shukaku, saying you'd kill me if I put you in the first chapter.

Gaara: ...right. It slipped my mind.

Hinata: Gaara-kun!

Gaara: Hn. Take your time reviewing; she doesn't need to write more of this.

Starr: Meh, you're so humphy.

Gaara: ...humphy?

Starr: Yes, humphy! Anyways, hope you people like this story.

Gaara: (Looking through the dictionary) Humphy isn't a word...

Starr: Shut up! (Flings him into a Pack of Rabid Fangirls) ... (Looks at everyone else and smiles nervously, waving) Ja ne!


	2. Reluctant Savior

Sand Knight

Chapter Two : Reluctant Savior

Disclaimers: Yeah, yeah, it's not mine. (Long, drawn-out sigh) But people are liking it, so...CHAPTER TWO! Forward! Mwahaha. Oh, by the by, most of the chapter is going to consist of Hinata's flashback, and it won't end until it says 'End Flashback' in the NEXT chapter. Oh, I'm not gonna put it in italics, because it's so long and that would just be annoying (Another sigh)

Gaara: (Pissed because he has to be in this chapter)

Starr: Oh, shut up.

_Current Song : My Lover's Gone by Dido_

PS: If you ever read one of these chapters and find yourself going, 'What the hell was she thinking?', just listen to whatever my current song is...it might help you understand a bit better (Nervous laugh) Then again, probably not...

* * *

Hinata really hadn't slept much that night. Of course, she hadn't really expected to, either. Yet, the sleep she had gotten wasn't riddled with nightmares, like she had expected.

Smiling despite herself, the leaf nin stood and looked at the other three girls. They were still sound asleep. The faint smile widened as she shook her head, walking over to the window and sliding it open silently.

Unlike the previous night, which had been cold, the mid-morning air was pleasantly warm. Hinata leaned against the sill with a contented look on her face, lost in her thoughts as usual.

She looked down at her wrist and sighed. 'Was that...really nine months?'

* * *

Flashback

* * *

From what she could tell, it was going to be a fairly normal day. She slid out of bed, brushing her hair with her hands. She never used a brush – it was too short to require it.

Stifling a yawn, Hinata looked at her clock. Five-thirty. She had plenty of time.

Stripping out of her nightclothes, she stepped into the shower in her bathroom. The girl sighed, remembering how troublesome it had been to share a bathroom with Hanabi up until about a month before.

She giggled after that thought. 'I'm spending too much time around Shikamaru-san,' she added to herself with a smile.

After standing under the lukewarm water for about ten minutes, she quickly dried herself off and dressed again. She looked down at the large backpack she took when she went with Kiba, Shino, and Kurenai on long missions. But she knew that today's mission wouldn't exactly be drawn out, so she left her room and headed towards the kitchen.

Barely sticking her head into the room, she looked around briefly before sighing with relief. The cooks weren't in there yet, which left her free to make whatever she wanted for breakfast. Yeah, sure, what the cooks normally made were good for the figure and all, but honestly, it did nothing for her stamina.

She made and ate her breakfast quickly, then glanced up at the wall clock. It was six, which gave her half an hour to get to the field where she was going to meet her team. She was just glad that she didn't have Kakashi as her sensei, or he wouldn't be arriving until about twelve-thirty or so.

Hinata quickly went to the front door, pausing just long enough to pull on her coat and her sandals. She then left the house at a run, tying the Konoha forehead protector around her neck without slowing her pace.

It wasn't that she thought she was at risk of being late – she actually lived fairly close to where the field was. She just wanted to go before her father or Hanabi woke up and gave her yet another pointless lecture.

When she arrived at the field, she seated herself on a large, flat rock, where they always waited for each other. Shino arrived not three minutes later.

"Ohayo, Shino-kun," she said with a gentle smile.

"Ohayo," he replied. She couldn't tell if he was smiling or not due to his coat, but she liked to think he was.

They heard Kiba long before they actually saw him. He was engrossed in yet another one of his arguments with Akamaru, which the other two didn't get at all. However, Hinata assumed that Akamaru was probably always right.

"Ah! Ohayo!" the brunette called as he saw the other two, raising his hand in greeting.

"Ohayo, Kiba-kun," Hinata replied with a smile. Shino merely nodded.

After Kurenai got there, the four of them went about their mission, which was collecting fish for the local orphanage. It was actually a fairly easy process. Shino would suspend one of his insects on a string of chakra, with a shield of chakra around the bug to keep it safe. He would then lower it into the water, and when he pulled it out with a fish, Hinata or Kiba would pin it to a tree with a kunai or a shuriken.

They had to make sure to do it before Akamaru got to the fish, and the dog got to a couple before the others could stop him. It was also training – for Kiba and Hinata, it was target practice, and for Shino, it was training for releasing a constant and thin flow of chakra.

It was also How to Keep Your Pets from Eating Your Food training.

After doing that, they delivered the fish and did some simple one-on-one fighting. Hinata lost all of her matches except for against Akamaru, and left their daily practice feeling a little depressed.

To make matters worse, the instant she got home, she was called into her father's room. He berated her for an hour and a half on the Hyuuga family pride that she was disgracing, how insulting it was that she was still weaker than Hanabi, who was five years younger, and how she needed to work much harder to prove her worth as the Hyuuga family heiress.

The entire time, Hanabi sat beside him, nodding and smirking.

She didn't return to her room until ten o'clock that night. After her father's lecture, she had gone for a walk in the garden. She needed to recollect her thoughts. But the more she thought about it, the more confused she became.

'I can't stay here,' she thought as she sat on the edge of her bed, idly wringing her hands. 'I've barely gotten any stronger in the past years. Kiba-kun and Shino-kun have excelled so much...why not me?

'Maybe Neji-niisan was right...maybe I can't change...' The white eyed girl sighed and closed her eyes.

Suddenly, Naruto's voice rang in her ears...that day he had seen her fight Neji in the Chuunin exam. Telling her that she could do it...that she could beat him...that someone can change...

Hinata opened her eyes again, forcing herself to be determined. 'Well...if I'm not getting any better here...then it's only logical that I go and get better somewhere else.'

She stood, grabbing her large backpack and putting as many necessities as she could fit and leave room for food. Cautiously activating her Byakugan, she scanned the house and found that everyone was asleep. She grabbed her backpack and closed her eyes, channeling chakra to her feet.

By releasing a greater flow than she would if she walked on water, she enabled herself to hover a few inches above the ground. She then quickly made her way downstairs, her feet making no noise on the tile or hardwood along the way.

She scoured the kitchen, taking only some of certain things...such as what there was a lot of, or what wouldn't really be missed. She didn't want the thought of her running away to strike them until she was too far for anything to quickly be done about it.

Not that she feared her family coming after her, of course. However, she knew that doing this would launch Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten into a frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic. They, in turn, would launch their entire social circle in a search for her, and she didn't really want to run into that.

So it was best for them to just suspect that she had gone off to be by herself for the day. That way, it would at least give her until the following day to get as far away from Konohagakura as she possibly could.

Heading back upstairs, she made one last check for anything she might have missed. Her eyes fell on a picture that they had all gotten taken recently: it was a large group shot of her, Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Naruto, Sakura, Sasuke, Ino, Shikamaru, Choujii, Neji, Tenten, Lee, Kakashi, Gai, Kurenai, and Asuma. It was painfully obvious that some of the members were enjoying the picture FAR more than others, and it was scary seeing Lee and Gai beside each other with the same thumbs up pose, and the same wink. You could even see their teeth shining in the picture.

It also served as a reminder to her of why she needed to do this. She needed to prove to all of them that she was good enough for the title of a Konoha ninja. So, she carefully placed the picture in an unused compartment of her backpack. She then hauled it over her shoulder, resumed air-walking, and began going downstairs.

Before she got to the door to her bedroom, she winced, placing a hand over her heart. She then clamped a hand over her mouth both to stifle a cough and to keep blood from coming out. She swallowed the liquid in her mouth, forcing it to stay down.

She had never fully recovered from her fight with Neji so long ago. Her father had insisted that, as soon as she was out of a critical state, she be transferred to family care. And who would argue with the head of the Hyuuga family? No one, unless they were stupid. And the 'family care' allowed her to get better enough to walk, to eat, to stop coughing up blood for extended periods of time. But she never fully recovered. Whenever she felt great amounts of stress, it acted up again almost as badly as when she had first received it.

Hinata assumed that he wanted her heart to remain weak, but she couldn't figure out why. She was the heir to the Hyuuga, wasn't she? Of course, if she died, that would leave Hanabi as the heiress. He'd love that.

Shaking her head to clear it of such morbid, depressing thoughts, she lowered her hands and shifted her backpack onto her shoulder, heading downstairs.

As she pulled on her coat, she looked up at the clock beside the door – midnight. That gave her roughly thirty-six hours to get as far away from Konohagakura before people began to notice she was gone.

Leaning down to slip on her sandals as fast as possible, she took off in the direction of the town gates, looking at the ramen stand, the ninja school, and Ino's flower shop as she passed. She never thought doing something like this would be so hard...but she knew she had to do it.

She channeled chakra around her backpack, creating an extra lift to enable her to run faster. She didn't know how she was going to get better on her own...but she was determined she was going to.

* * *

Neji opened his eyes as he heard a rustle of leaves, his hand automatically flying to his kunai. Remaining in his perch in a large tree, he looked in the direction of the sound, hidden from sight in the branches.

He had been out here meditating when the sun had gone down...he supposed he had fallen asleep. He should have known that it was a bad idea, but it was a little too late to do anything about it now.

His eyes widened when he saw a figure emerge in a clearing just long enough to be seen in the moonlight before it disappeared again.

'Just what are you thinking, Hinata-sama...?' he asked himself as he looked in the direction the girl had gone. Was she...running away? No matter how weak he had always thought she was...that still wasn't like her. If it had been, they never would have fought in the Chuunin exam preliminaries. She would have taken her teammate's advice and quit immediately.

He closed his eyes, jumping out of the tree to another one, back in the direction of the branch family's house. It wasn't his place to correct her, anyway.

* * *

"Ah, man, what time is it?"

"It's about ten, judging by the sun."

"I'm gettin' really worried. She's never been this late before...hell, she's never been _late_ before."

"Perhaps we should go to her home. She may be ill."

"Yeah, but wouldn't they have sent us a message or somethin'? I mean, I know we're just training today, but..."

"Knowing her family, they probably would have left it to us to find out what happened."

"Point taken." Kiba sighed as he leaned against a tree and crossed his arms over his chest. He hated it when Shino was right, but he was.

"Kurenai-sensei, what should we do?" he asked as he directed his attention to the red eyed woman.

"Well...I suppose we could make finding Hinata our mission for today," she said with a thoughtful expression. She was severely worried about her subordinate as well.

One thing she had noticed – she hadn't been looking too great after training. Maybe she got hit really hard...but that couldn't have been it. Every time one of the boys hit her too hard, they apologized profusely for it. The funny thing was, the apology seemed to make Hinata angrier than the actual attack did, and she proceeded to beat the shit out of whichever of the two it had been.

"Alright, boys," she said, standing up from the rock and placing her hands on her hips. The two males looked at her, Akamaru giving her a questioning bark. "Operation Find Hyuuga Hinata is on. I'll go by her house – you two ask your friends and anyone who might have come in contact with her. She might just have decided to skip practice, but that's unlikely."

"Hai," the two said with a nod before they all leapt off in different directions.

* * *

"Iie, I haven't seen Hinata-sama at all since yesterday," the servant who opened the door told Kurenai. "I assumed she was off on a mission with you, Kurenai-sama."

Kurenai blinked. "Why is that...?" she asked cautiously, fearing the answer.

"Well, her sandals and coat were gone when we woke up. That alone is normal, but the cooks said that some food is missing from the kitchens, and the maid who cleans Hinata-sama's room said that her large backpack and several changes of clothing were all gone as well."

Kurenai nodded numbly. "Well...thank you, let me know if you hear anything."

"Of course, Kurenai-sama."

* * *

Kiba found Naruto exactly where he thought he would – at the ramen stand. It actually made his quest a bit easier, since both Kakashi's and Gai's teams were there.

"Ah, Kiba-kun," Kakashi greeted with a wave, looking up from his latest perverted novel. "What brings you here? Ah, silly question. Come, sit with us." He then looked around. "Hm? Where are Shino-kun, Hinata-chan, and Kurenai?"

Kiba sighed. "Yeah, look, I needed to ask all of you about that."

Well, that phrase got all of their attention rather quickly. Well, except for Neji, who remained passive as always. Plus the fact that he already knew what had happened.

"Shino, Kurenai-sensei, and I are all out looking for Hinata. Have any of you seen her lately?" the brunette asked, sounding and looking just a little more desperate than he intended.

"Eh? Hinata-chan's gone?" Naruto asked as soon as he had swallowed his mouthful of ramen.

* * *

Shino had roughly the same idea as Kiba. Find ramen, find Naruto – find barbeque, find Choujii.

He briefly reflected on any reasons that would make Asuma dumb enough to treat Meat Tank Boy to all-you-can-eat barbeque again, but quickly shook it off as he headed to their usual table.

As he expected, he saw Choujii shoveling the meat into his mouth as fast as he possibly could, Asuma smoking and laughing, and Shikamaru and Ino watching Choujii with morbid fascination.

The insect trainer coughed slightly to get their attention. They all looked at him, and Shino mused on how much Choujii looked like a grossly overweight chipmunk with all that meat in his mouth at once.

"Have any of you seen Hinata?" he asked quietly, never being one to 'beat around the bush'.

"Eh?" Ino asked, leaning over Shikamaru, causing him to sweatdrop massively. "What do you mean?"

"She never showed up for training today."

* * *

Exactly what Hinata had feared occurred much earlier than she had assumed it would. All four teams had reassembled at the field to wait for Kurenai.

When she told them what the servant had told her, Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten went into a frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic. As a result, they forced the rest of them to help scour the entire area.

In fact, it was surprising that they didn't get the whole village to help, seeing as how no one could hear anything over their screams of 'HINATA!' with various suffixes attached to it.

At around seven that evening, Kurenai stopped long enough to look at the setting sun. 'Hinata...where are you...?'

* * *

By the time they the Find the Missing Ninja panic had begun, Hinata was already near the edge of the forest. She looked around as she finally got out, seeing how drastic the scenery had changed.

Judging by the setting sun, she had gone south, which would place her in the County of Wind. The area was getting a desert-like feel to it, as well, and she wondered if she was anywhere near Sunagakura.

She then looked around slowly. She had to find somewhere relatively safe to sleep, and fast. She backtracked slightly, back into the forest, and began scanning the trees and surrounding area with her Byakugan. Finding nothing poisonous or even relatively dangerous anywhere near, she leapt up into a rather large tree. She assumed that this was probably the best place to stay hidden from anyone who might enter the forest while she was asleep.

She curled up as best as she could and closed her eyes, glad she had her coat. It was going to be a long night.

* * *

"And no one's seen a trace of her?" Kakashi asked once they had all reassembled in the field. They had decided that when the stars came out, that was when they would stop for the day.

"We'll look more tomorrow, anyone who cares to join us," Asuma added.

"Demo, demo," Naruto interjected. "What if she's hurt? Or lost? Or...or...or..."

Kakashi's hand on the blonde's head stopped his ramblings. "I'm sure she'll be fine. She's gotten pretty good at fighting – I've heard the stories of her beating Kiba and Shino into oblivion."

"Kurenai-sensei!" Kiba yelled, glaring at his teacher, who just laughed.

Shino sighed. "Well, they're all true, Kiba." The boy with the painted face just growled and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Everyone, go home and get to bed. We aren't doing her any good just standing out here and arguing."

They all mumbled consents, heading in the directions of their respective houses. The four sensei watched them all leave.

"Is it a good idea to put off everything else for the time being?" Asuma asked, lighting another cigarette.

Kakashi looked over at him. "I don't know, but this is what Hokage-sama would want us to do, anyway. Besides, how do you propose getting Kiba-kun, Naruto-kun, Sakura-kun, Lee-kun, or Tenten-kun to do anything else? You saw how they reacted when they found out she went missing, and they all probably think someone twice as sinister as Orochimaru kidnapped her."

"That's probably right," Gai said with a laugh. He then sighed. "But honestly...do you think she'll be alright?"

"I think she will," Kurenai said quietly. "I believe that if she _is_, in fact, gone...that she left on her own free will. I can't imagine why she'd do such a thing, but she's a level-headed girl. She wouldn't do it without a good reason."

"True," Gai consented. "I think we should take our own advice for once, as well. We should all get to bed too. If we're going to be looking for her, it'd be best if we were in good condition."

* * *

Near dawn, Hinata lost her balance in the tree, landing flat on her back.

"Itai..." she muttered, sitting up and rubbing her head.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" a man's voice asked. Hinata's eyes shot open as a little squeak escaped her lips, her face shooting up towards the sound to see a man at least three times her size staring down at her.

He smirked. "Hello, little lady. You wanna come play with me?"

Hinata was too shocked by both his sudden appearance and her fall from the tree. She backed away slightly, managing to mutter, "G-go a-away..."

He glared at her, reaching out to grab her by the arm. His glare intensified when she slapped his arm away.

"That's it," he said, pulling out a knife. "I was gonna make it pleasant for you, but I see that I have no choice now."

She stood up and made to run before he kicked her leg. She hadn't completely gotten her balance and couldn't jump to avoid it, and the instant before the kick connected, she realized with horror that he was wearing steel toed boots.

The crack of her lower right leg breaking and her scream filled the entire forest.

She landed hard and immediately curled up into the only defensive position she could get herself into due to the pain.

She laid there for what seemed like years, but nothing happened. Nothing but the sound of rustling...leaves...?

That wasn't what leaves sounded like.

It sounded like...sand.

Hinata slowly opened her eyes and looked at where the man had been. In his place was a large pile of sand, which was retreating up a tree.

Her vision was swimming from the pain as her eyes followed the sand's path.

"You should be more alert in this area of the forest. Sleeping isn't wise," a cold voice said.

She only had one thought before she passed out.

'Sabaku...no Ga...Gaara...?'

* * *

Hinata opened her eyes with a groan. Was she still in the tree? It...didn't feel like she was in a tree.

Slowly looking around, she realized that she was in a large bed with white silk sheets. She blinked before sitting up, instantly regretting it as a sharp pain shot through her leg. She gave a little cry, falling back onto the mattress.

She didn't even hear the door open as she clenched the sheet in her fists and breathed through clenched teeth.

"Ah...I see you're awake." Her eyes shot open again as she redirected her attention to the sound of the voice.

A beautiful woman with blonde hair and blue eyes smiled faintly at her, her hands on her hips. Hinata thought she recognized her, but she wasn't sure why...until she noticed the Suna forehead protector around her neck.

"Am I...in Sunagakura...?" she asked quietly, her voice still shaky from the pain.

"Hai," the woman said as she pulled a chair up next to the bed, sitting down. "You're Hyuuga Hinata, correct?"

Hinata could only manage a small nod. "How...?"

"I remember you from the Chuunin exam," she said, tapping her temple. "I have a good memory. I'm Temari, the sand nin."

Hinata's eyes widened slightly. "Hai, I remember! You're the one who fought Tenten-chan!"

Temari nodded. "Hai." She then sighed. "You're lucky to be here. Don't worry about your leg, it'll be fine soon. You've been out for about two days, and during that time, we went ahead and got surgery done for you.

"It should be completely healed in three days. You could probably walk on it now, if you were so inclined, but I'd wait for the three days to pass. And it'll still hurt for awhile – you just had surgery, and you haven't moved for forty-eight hours. But just give it some time."

"Arigatou...demo..." she began, looking down at her hands. "I...I can't repay you..."

Temari waved a hand, giving a small 'meh' sound. "Don't sweat it. I'm the Kazekage's daughter, I'm not exactly hurting for money. Besides, we're Konoha's allies, and it wouldn't be too good for relations if we let the heiress of the head family suffer with a broken leg."

Hinata smiled at her, nodding. "Arigatou, Temari-san...you're very kind."

"Don't worry about it."

"Oh...ano..." she began, playing with her fingers.

"Hm? Nani?"

"Was...was the one who saved me..."

"It was Gaara," Temari said, smiling gently at her. "Actually, I was quite surprised when he showed up with you. He said, in his typical good-natured tone," she added sarcastically, "that you got assaulted and your leg broken before you could defend yourself. He wouldn't say any more than that.

"By the way...what were you doing so far from Konoha by yourself?"

"Oh...um...I ran away from home to do some training. I felt that...they were going to easy on be back at home, and that I wasn't getting any stronger."

Temari blinked before grinning. "Ah...training, eh?" She leaned back in the chair, crossing her legs and her arms. "Well, you aren't gonna get too far with that, if you're doing it by yourself."

"That's what I was afraid of," she muttered. "But I knew everyone else would have just told me to stay where I was, and that wasn't doing me any good, so..."

"I understand, Hinata-chan," the blonde sand nin said with a nod. "Ya know...I like you. You've got a lot of spirit. You could use some self-confidence, but we can take care of a problem like that in no time. So how about staying here and training for a while?"

The white eyed girl blinked up at her. "Eh? Hontou?"

Temari grinned at her. "Sure. You can even have this room, if you want. We have plenty of places to train, after all. You can go at your own pace, and if you need a partner, I'm always looking for someone to train with. If you're feeling brave, you could even ask Baki-sensei or Kankurou. And if you're feeling _really_ brave, you could ask Gaara."

"Ah, hai," Hinata smiled, nodding, a bright smile on her face. "Arigatou goizamashita!"

"Don't sweat it. You hungry?"

* * *

"Why'd you do it?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"I'm not used to seeing acts of goodwill coming from you, that's all."

"Hn." Kankurou sighed. Getting information out of Gaara was like trying to interrogate a brick wall. Actually...you'd have more luck with the brick wall, because it wasn't as likely to hurt you.

Gaara sighed and shifted in the chair beside the window, causing the two bracelets around his wrist to give a metallic 'ching'.

Kankurou had to admit, the red haired hothead was a lot easier to deal with now that Shukaku's bloodlust had pretty much disappeared and Gaara had managed to lock him into those bracelets. Well, the demon was in one, and a portion of his power was in the other. Gaara could remove the second one whenever he liked, and if he gave it to someone, it was an offer to them as his protection.

Not that Gaara was one to do something like that.

"...she intrigued me," the boy said dully, surprising his older sibling. Kankurou hadn't expected any form of response at all.

"Whatever floats your boat. Ja ne," the hooded male said, headed out of the room.

Gaara resumed his thoughts. He remembered the Hyuuga girl from a long time ago. She had looked so determined when he had saved her from that man. He still wasn't sure why he did it – his body had acted on its own.

But she actually tried to at least get away...she didn't cower in fear like he had seen many females do before. He felt they deserved to die, just staying and letting the assaulting male do whatever he wanted.

The redhead shook himself and stood up. Now wasn't a good time to be thinking about what his...'emotions'...might have been at the time. He was too hungry at the moment.

* * *

Starr: Aww, ever the noble one.

Gaara: Shut up.

Hinata: I like my legs in one piece...

Temari: I have a friend! Yay!

Kankurou: (Looks at Temari oddly) Did you get into the sugar again?

Starr: Right! Now...THANK YOUS TO FRIENDLY REVIEWERS!

**M-python-girl: **Here ya go, I'm writing more (Smile, smile) Yeah, that's what I thought...I dunno, I had figured I was just insane or something (Coughs) Maybe it's the normal ones who are insane...

**Ah-choo:** Ah-heh...hai, I'm bad at things like that. But they had to figure out that she had a crush, and I didn't see it as...appropriate for her to just say it in front of EVERYONE! So...I saw a sleepover as far more suited to the situation. And I liked the bracelet thing too – is fun.

**Cheza-Pizza: **Indeed.

**Xoni Newcomer: **Oh, trust me, our Neji-kun is going to have quite a bit of OOC attitude going on a bit later in the story. I even have the beginnings of a fight scene planned out! Woohoo!

**Midnight Blossom: **Ah, everything about Hinata is sweet. She's almost...cavity-inducing sweet. But I loved the flashback too.

**shikaruTo: **YES! BOYS! WOO! Well, that is, as long as they're interesting boys...but hey, if they're cute, they don't need to be interesting...man, I'm hanging around my sister too much, she's making me shallow (Nervous laugh) Oh well!

**Anime-Is-My-Life: **Yeah...aye...you know what? This chapter is even longer than the last one, and I said it'd be shorter...man, I have no foresight. Hindsight's 20/20, though, as usual. I'm glad you liked it enough to share it with your friends. Ah, the pride of writing. And...some of her friends are going to be less than thrilled when they find out the identity, lemme tell ya...

**wayfarer-redemption: **Yay! Someone else who likes my story! Yeah, the only pairing I was going to have was Gaara and Hinata, but when I got to the part with Sakura thinking, I decided, 'You know, she and Lee would be cute together'. Kinda the same as with Tenten and Neji...and Kiba getting his crush (BLUSHING KIBA! So cute, want plushie.) I don't know _where_ the Shikamaru and Ino thing came from (better him than Choujii)...

Starr: Woo! So...glad people are liking it thus far. Like I said, chapter three will continue Hinata's flashback...and yes, it's a little unrealistic for her to have a flashback to places she wasn't at. Deal with it, it makes the story less vague.

Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten: (Have no idea that the chapter has ended and are still in their frenzied, Find the Missing Ninja panic)

Starr: CALM DOWN! ...Anyways! (Waves) Ja ne!


	3. Almost a Friendship

Sand Knight

Chapter Three : Almost a Friendship

Disclaimers: Yeah, yeah, not mine. Well, the rave reviews have been POURING IN!

Gaara: She means the pleasantly surprised reviews have been trickling in.

Starr: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Anyways, on with chapter three. As I said before, this starts in Hinata's flashback from the last chapter. Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.

You, the Reader: Why's she telling me this again? Does she think I'm stupid?

Starr: Well, no, not you personally. But there are some people who just don't seem to get it...or their computers are so slow that they forget during the changing of the screen when they press the handy Next Chapter button. This way, if anyone says...

Anyone: I don't get it.

Starr: ...I can just point them back here. Aren't I nice?

_Current Song : The Wind by Bassic

* * *

_

"THIS SUCKS!"

Shino winced as he watched Kiba kick over a metal bucket, causing a loud crash and directing most of the attention to him. The insect trainer grabbed the Almost-A-Dog by the scruff of his neck and hauled him off, a stress mark forming on his temple.

"I know you don't like it. Neither do I. But causing a scene will not aid us any."

They had been searching for Hinata for two weeks, and for what? Nothing. Neji had been VERY unhelpful in his suggestion that she had probably gotten kidnapped and died, which had changed Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten's objective from Find the Missing Ninja to Find and Kill the Kidnapper.

"We have to get back to training," Shino added, noting that when Kiba growled, he sounded a lot like Akamaru. "Don't give me that."

"It still sucks," the boy with the painted face said, crossing his arms over his chest. "Dammit..."

* * *

Kurenai stared down into her drink, a blank expression on her face.

"Oi, oi, shouldn't you be training Kiba and Shino or something?" Kakashi asked, more than a little drunk. Kurenai rolled her eyes – it was shameful, seeing the other three drunk in the middle of the day. Of course, Gai was acting the same as normal – it was physically impossible for him to act dumber. Asuma was, to her pleasant surprise, rather subdued, humming a little off-key tune to himself.

"I could ask the same of you," the red eyed woman said, taking a sip of her iced tea. Really, she had nothing against drinking, but that much at two in the afternoon?

She felt like drinking, of course. Hinata had been missing for two weeks, and Hiashi wasn't doing anything. She even thought...the Hyuuga might actually be glad about his oldest daughter's disappearance. Hanabi seemed a lot more smug as well...and Neji was acting slightly worried. She wondered...had something happened in the Hyuuga household?

The woman shook her head and closed her eyes. For one thing, she was sure that, if anything _had_ happened, it was nothing that would cause harm to Hinata. For another thing, it was none of her business what their family decided to do. But it bothered her that, of all people, Hyuuga Neji was worried about something.

She supposed she could always ask Gai about it...and if he didn't know, the simple question would spark his curiosity enough to ask Neji about it. Not that there was a guarantee of Neji saying what it was, either. He was very touchy on family matters...though, of course, it wasn't without reason.

She leaned back on her stool, sipping her iced tea again. Whatever happened would happen. She was sure Hinata would return soon, anyway.

* * *

He should probably tell someone. Then again, watching them run around pointlessly was vastly entertaining.

Neji stretched his arms over his head from where he sat on the edge of his bed. He had been sitting still and pondering for far too long.

He knew that they were all severely worried, but if Hinata had wanted them to know, she would have told them. That was just her nature. But he didn't understand what the purpose of her disappearance was.

She wasn't really one to act rashly...not usually, anyway. He had been monitoring her for a while as per Kurenai's request using his Byakugan, and it seemed that her self-esteem was still getting lower.

Apparently, she was still screwing up on the missions, and if they failed, she took all of the responsibility no matter _what_ Kiba had been doing. He had also monitored her lone practice sessions that she would carry out far too long for her own good.

He knew she had never really recovered from her heart problems. He also knew that Hiashi had demanded it, and threatened the girl with her life should she ever tell anyone outside the family about it. He knew why, too – Hiashi had wanted Hanabi to become the heiress for years, and if Hinata died, it was the perfect excuse.

Though he knew it was his fault, he hadn't really felt much sympathy towards her. During her training with her team, she always stopped right before she hit her heart's collapse point. Over the years, it was as though she knew exactly how much she could handle and for how long.

But she always pushed herself far too hard when she was training alone, and was never capable of doing much the following day. He assumed that was the reason their missions probably failed half the time.

But now he was worried. He was _really_ worried. The previous night, the Hyuuga main house had held a combined mourning and celebration banquet, which the young Hyuuga had seen as a very detestable act. It was both to 'mourn' the loss of Hinata, whom they claimed dead only two weeks after her disappearance, and to celebrate Hanabi's promotion to heiress.

It was nights like that which reminded him how disgusting his family truly was, and reinforced his pleasure at not being a member of the main house.

Neji was confused. He didn't know why he suddenly cared about what happened to Hinata...but he did.

He also trusted her. If running away was what she deemed necessary, then that's what he would let her do. There was no telling how far she had gone, even with a Byakugan user on their side, and now that she had been declared dead, they couldn't even launch an official search party.

And if she did come back, it wouldn't change her demotion from heiress. He hoped it wouldn't hurt her, though he couldn't see why it would. It also kicked her into the branch family until she was able to get married.

Neji sighed and stood up, cracking his knuckles and walking outside to see the latest development of Find and Kill the Kidnapper.

* * *

"Again! And faster this time!"

"Hai!" Little hyperactive balls of sand seemed to fly everywhere with that one word. Hinata moved swiftly, hitting or kicking each one as it got near her. When they were hit cleanly, they fell into little sand piles at her feet.

She had to admit – the little balls of sand were pretty cute. Temari had called them sand spirits, which the Kazekage kept for training purposes. It was wonderful target practice as well. If they crashed into her, they disappeared, but they left a nasty red mark as well.

She knew she had good chakra control – better than most of the others her age, at least – but that wasn't what she was wanting. Chakra control meant nothing if you didn't have the strength to back it up. Well, except for when she was really mad and got a good Gentle Fist hit on Kiba or Shino.

She supposed she wasn't really weak, per se. She knew she had grown considerably since she was twelve...but compared to her friends, her skills were standing still.

And Temari was an even tougher instructor than Neji had ever been. It was a pretty grueling training regimen, but she knew that she was increasing both her strength and her speed at the same time.

The only thing that really bothered her was that she hadn't seen Gaara at all. Apparently, he had left on a trip the day her leg had fully healed, and he still hadn't come back yet. She wanted to thank the sand nin, but it seemed that she was going to just have to wait a while before that time came along.

When she began to feel that she was close to coughing up blood again, she fell over and groaned. Temari immediately stopped the sand spirits and laughed quietly.

"That's enough for today," the blonde said with a smile, extending a hand to help Hinata up. "Come, we'll get food."

Hinata smiled gently and nodded, taking her hand and hauling herself to her feet.

As they walked towards the dining hall, Temari glanced down at the younger girl. She had told her that there was a point at which she had to stop training for the day, but she didn't say why. And the blonde was so used to not asking Gaara what was wrong that she didn't pry.

She figured that either the girl would tell her, or she would find out on accident. Either way, she was going to know.

* * *

"Took you long enough to come back."

Gaara glared over at Kankurou as he walked into his room. "Did you just stay here the entire time I was gone?"

Not like either of them expected much of a greeting from the other. Ah, brotherly love.

"Nah, I just knew you'd be back soon," the puppeteer said with a shrug. "Why'd you go to Water Country, anyway? You didn't have any business in Mizugakure, I know you didn't."

"None of your business," Gaara muttered distractedly, pulling the gourd off his back so he could take off the cloak he was wearing.

"If you were running away from Hinata..."

"Now why would I do something like that?" the redhead snapped, not bothering to look back.

"Yeah, I figured that was it. Anyways," he pressed on, ignoring the younger male's growl, "if that's what you were doing, you weren't gone long enough. Temari's acting like the girl's her long lost sister, and I think you'd have to kill her to get Hinata to leave. She's training here."

Gaara muttered something indistinguishable and twitched, causing Kankurou to smirk. He had hit the nail on the head – Gaara hadn't wanted to explain why he had saved her, or listen to any expressions of gratitude, so he had left before Hinata was able to move around easily.

Yet, according to Temari, the Hyuuga girl wasn't going to leave until she got a chance to thank Gaara. Though, why anyone would wait two weeks just to talk to that brat was beyond him.

"I'll tell Temari you're back. Ja ne," he said with a wave, headed out the door.

As soon as he heard it shut, Gaara groaned and hung his head. Did this mean...he was going to have to be...nice? Feh, he didn't know how. He didn't want her to thank him, just go back to Konohagakure. And he didn't want to explain why he had done it because he _still_ didn't know why himself.

'Gah, it's hurting my brain thinking about it.'

* * *

Gaarablinked several hours lateras he heard a gentle knocking on his door, slowly looking up from the book he was reading merely to pass the time.

Gentle knocking wasn't something he was used to. The only three stupid enough to disturb him were Kankurou, Temari, and Baki, and they pounded so hard he was always afraid they would break down the door.

"Hai?" he called with his usual level of perkiness. If it was one of those three, and they were knocking like that, they probably had news that was going to piss him off.

He quirked an eyebrow as the door tentatively opened, Hinata slowly sticking her head in. "A-anou...Gaara-san...?"

Yeah. He had figured this was coming.

"Hai, Hyuuga-san?" he asked quietly as he closed his book and stood up.

"Well..." she said, looking down at the floor and playing with her fingers again. Yeah, that was officially a habit that annoyed him. "I just...wanted to thank you...for saving me..." she said quietly, trying not to stammer again.

"Don't worry about it," the male said with a shrug, shoving his hands into his pockets. He was waiting for the next question – why did you do it?

Instead, she merely giggled.

The sand nin blinked at her, a sweatdrop forming on the back of his head. How was 'don't worry about it' funny?

"Nani?" he asked quietly, trying to keep the curiosity out of his voice and not doing too good of a job.

"Well...that's...just what Temari-chan says whenever I thank her...so does Kankurou-san. I guess that's how your family says 'you're welcome', ne?" she said, tilting her head up to smile at him, one of the ultra-cute smiles she didn't know was ultra-cute.

However, Gaara noticed it, and it both knocked him off his mental balance and triggered a feeling in him he had never felt before.

Failing to come up with a smart remark, he just shrugged and looked over to the side. "Yeah, I guess."

"I think it's sweet."

"Sweet?" he repeated blandly, looking back at her. She just smiled wider and nodded.

"Hai. Sweet." She then bowed slightly. "I just wanted to say thank you. Oyasumi, Gaara-san."

He nodded, watching her retreat and turning back towards his chair. As he heard the door open, he found his mouth operating on its own. "Hyuuga-san."

"Hai?" she asked, her hand on the door as she glanced back at him.

He didn't even turn back towards her as he asked, "How long are you planning on staying?"

"A-anou..." she began, looking down at her feet. "I don't know...if it's a bother, I could just-..."

"You're welcome to stay as long as you like."

She blinked and looked back at him. "H-hontou?"

He nodded, still not turning around. "Hai."

"Arigatou!" she said, bowing deeply to him. After she left, he went back to his book and stared at the page he had been on, but couldn't concentrate on it. He stared down at his hand before slowly raising it to his chest and gripping his shirt with his fist.

Somehow...some of the pain in his chest seemed to have disappeared.

* * *

"Oi...the stress, the stress...HINATA, YER KILLIN' ME!"

"I think you're even louder drunk than sober." Kiba groaned and fell over, his leg twitching slightly. Shino watched with a sigh, gently removing the sake bottle from his teammate's hand. He wasn't sure how he had managed to buy sake, but he had, and he had drank too much of it.

The insect trainer had suspected that Kiba had a crush on Hinata for a long time now. This just confirmed it.

A lot of them had given up hope of finding her on their own. They knew that she wasn't dead, but her family's declaration of it had made it sound so convincing that they had let it sink into their minds too.

Not that it had phased Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, or Tenten any.

Shino grabbed Kiba by his arm and flung it over his shoulder, dragging him to the living room. They were in Shino's apartment, but it was late, and Kiba was in no condition to go home.

Kiba groaned and closed his eyes as Shino dumped him on the couch. "You're sleeping there tonight. I'm gonna get you a pillow and a blanket, stay there." Of course, he wasn't worried about Kiba trying to leave – he was currently struggling with basic motor skills.

When he came back, he saw that the dog boy was already asleep. Shino laughed quietly before blinking as he saw tears on the other male's face.

Sighing, he draped the blanket over him, tucking the pillow under his head. 'Hinata...come back soon...'

* * *

"You're hiding something."

"Huh?"

"You're hiding something?"

"What makes you think I'm hiding something?"

"Because you're being nice."

"So if a guy's being nice, it means he's hiding something?"

"If it's you, yes." Neji sighed and closed his eyes for a brief reprieve of his teammate's glares.

"Two against one really isn't fair," he said, putting one hand on his cheek and refusing to look at the other two.

"Who cares?" Lee asked. "You're hiding something, out with it. Is it about Hinata?"

"...I can't tell you."

The other two opened their mouths before blinking. They had expected another denial – Neji didn't give up so fast. Well, technically, he wasn't giving up, since they still had no information.

"Why not?"

"It wouldn't be fair to her," he said, standing and walking out of the restaurant they had been sitting in.

The other two watched him go, confusion apparent on both of their faces. What was _that_ supposed to mean?

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

"Ah, you're already awake?"

Hinata blinked a few times, snapped out of her dreamland due to the voice behind her. She looked to see that Sakura was awake, and Ino and Tenten were in the process.

"Ah, hai. I've been awake for a while."

"Aw, you should have woken us up," Ino said, stifling a yawn. She then stretched, standing up.

"It's eight. I don't normally wake up this early except for on missions," Tenten said with a groan, reaching to her bedside table, opening the drawer, flinging her clock in, and slamming the drawer again. "Stupid time of having too many mission...crap...things."

* * *

As soon as the three of them managed to haul Tenten out of bed, they went to IHOP. (A/N: I'm just kidding, don't hurt me.)

They went to the local inn, which was run by Konohamaru's parents. They had arranged to meet Neji, Shikamaru, Lee, and Kiba there the previous day, just to talk and have breakfast.

Neji was already there, sitting with his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes closed, the beginnings of a stress mark formed over his temple. The four girls exchanged looks – if he had been here long enough to get pissed, they were probably pretty late. Well, actually, he hadn't slept much the previous night, but that was beside the point.

"Ohayo, Neji-kun," Tenten said, sitting down next to him. The Hyuuga male's eyes opened and he blinked up at them.

"Ohayo," he responded in a drowsy tone. Hinata gave him a nervous smile, and when she saw him give her the biggest smile he had since they were kids (which wasn't much), she took that as an okay to sit beside him.

Sakura and Ino sat beside each other with one place on either side of them – Hinata assumed they were so Lee and Shikamaru could sit beside them.

The other three males arrived at the same time, Shikamaru looking as though he had woken up right before walking through the door. He raised his hand in greeting, moving his other hand to cover a yawn, before slumping into the chair beside Ino with a drawn-out groan.

"Big baby," the blonde muttered, thwacking her boyfriend on the back of the head. She only got another groan in response.

Lee plopped down next to Sakura with a bright, "Good morning everyone!" which provoked _another_ groan from Shikamaru.

Kiba sat next to Hinata, who smiled at him. "Ohayo, Kiba-kun."

He blinked at her before smiling and rubbing the back of his neck. "Hi."

After they had all ordered, they launched into telling Hinata all that had happened while she was gone – Naruto beating Sasuke in the race, Akamaru disappearing for three days and coming back with a pregnant female dog (who had since gone to a different home), Lee beating Neji at a fight, Ino pulling off Shikamaru's hair band to show that no, his hair was NOT frozen like that, Choujii going on a diet that lasted for a grand total of two hours, and a few peace treaties that Konoha had been starting with the rest of the allied nations.

They talked for almost two hours. Neji even laughed a couple of times. Once most of the stories were out of the way, Tenten leaned around her boyfriend to flick Hinata on the nose.

The Hyuuga girl blinked and went cross-eyed before rubbing it with her palm. "Nani?" she asked as she lowered her hand...and blinked as she saw Tenten, Sakura, and Ino with identical evil grins. Suddenly, she got a feeling of foreboding.

"So, Hinata-chan..." Ino began.

"Hai...?"

"Tell us about that boy you were traveling with."

"EEP!" the girl said, putting her hands over her face and turning bright red.

Ino smirked and turned to Shikamaru, pointing at him. "HAH! Told you so!" He just 'meh'ed back.

"Boy?" Neji asked in a blunt tone.

"He was just a guy I was traveling with, nothing to get all excited over..."

"Your blush suggests otherwise."

Hinata shot a glare at her cousin between her fingers, who just looked back at her.

"Come on, at least tell us his name," Sakura pried.

"Nope."

"Come on..."

"Not gonna do it."

"What, do we know him or something?"

"Yes." The others blinked at her as she shrugged. "Well, you do."

"Then WHO!"

"You wouldn't believe me."

"Sure we would!" Tenten said. This discussion had even caught Shikamaru's attention, since he was actually propping his head up with his arm.

Hinata crossed her arms over her chest. "Would you believe me if I said Sabaku no Gaara?"

They all blinked at her before shaking their heads in unison. "No."

"Then how do I know you'll believe me if I tell you who I was traveling with?"

A pause. "She's right, you know," Shikamaru said, putting his head back down.

Kiba was sort of off in his own little world. 'Another guy? So I'm competing with someone who's not even _here_?' he thought, twitching slightly.

Hinata smiled gently. That threw them off the trail...for the time being, anyway.

* * *

Starr: YOSHI! Chapter three, done with!

Yoshi: (Blinks)

Starr: NO! NOT YOU! I meant the Japanese exclamation of 'alright', doofus.

Yoshi: Aww.

Starr: Right...back to the FRIENDLY SHOUTOUT SHOW!

**rikkufx: **Yay, glad you like (Smile, smile)

**khmer shinobi: **Yack, I'm updating, I'm updating, don't hurt me X.x

**The Infamous Jack:** I understand the anti-NarutoXHinata thing. Whenever I see evidence of that in the show, I'm going, "Hinata! No! You deserve better!" And don't worry about dear Kiba-kun, he shall be taken care of as well. Eventually...uh...sometime...ya know, I should probably plot out my stories better. Oh well!

**Xoni Newcomer: **A reviewer sent straight from Kami-sama! ARIGATOU! I love getting constructive criticism – it really helps, ya know? I hope that I answered some of your questions in this chapter, and don't worry, they'll find out about her heart problem in Sunagakure. If I didn't answer any more of your questions, please tell me. I need to know these things (sighs)

**M-python-girl: **I'm with you – normal is weird. What is normal, anyways? If someone was normal, they'd still be different than everyone else, so they'd STILL be weird...but enough of this nonsensical banter. Here, have an update, and keep the religious fanatics from killing me, please (Hides behind Gaara)

**chibi-kaitou: **Hee, I know. Aren't Gaara and Hinata uber-kawaii? It's almost too much cute to be allowed in one fanfic.

**MegDeity: **Yay, more liking of the story! Sure, I'll send you an email of fun.

Starr: SO! Now that we have THAT out of the way...

Gaara: ...it's time to stop the story.

Starr: It is not.

Gaara: It is too.

Starr: You just don't like it because you get emotional pretty soon.

Gaara: I don't have any emotions.

Starr: Says you. Anyways, thank all of you for your reviews. Expect another chapter soon!


	4. Desperation without Words

Sand Knight

Chapter Four : Desperation without Words

Disclaimers: Nya...sorry for the extremely long delay. I was hospitalized for a while...but anyways...here we go, on with chapter four. This is where Gaara gets sentimental (happy smile)

Gaara: Liar.

Starr: I am not. You _do_ get sentimental, and it's kawaii.

Gaara: It-

Starr: Shut up, sit down, don't wanna hear your lame excuses.

Gaara: (Growl)

Starr: Yeah yeah. Oh, and this is the chapter in which I needed Shino's eye color for...and since I got no response, I'm just improvising (coughs) Sooo don't hurt me if I got it wrong.

Shino: Why?

Starr: Because. Shove it.

Shino: What'd _I_ do?

Hinata: She's just pissed at Gaara-kun.

Gaara: Like I care...

_Current Song : Sweetest Goodbye by Maroon 5

* * *

_

Gaara placed his fingertips on his temples in an attempt to block out Temari's whining. His sister was severely displeased that Hinata was gone. But more than that, she was mad that he had the opportunity to stop her and didn't.

"She was homesick," the redhead said once his sister paused for breath. "Besides, I told her she could stay as long as she wanted to. I didn't say she had to stay forever."

"You could have," the taller ninja said, crossing her arms over her chest to glare at her younger brother.

"But I didn't. Do you want her to be here and be miserable?"

"Well...no..."

"There you go," he said, returning to the book he was reading. "Besides, I'm just as upset about it as you are," he muttered before mentally slapping himself. Nice, Gaara. Real smooth. Saying something like that in front of Temari was a sure way to lose your image.

"Oh really?" Temari asked in an intrigued tone. "Well, if that's the case, who don't you go to Konohagakure and ask her to come back?"

Gaara snapped his book shut, laying it down on the table. He then stood and began walking out the door, pausing briefly to look at his sister.

Her eyes widened immediately – that was an expression she hadn't seen on him since he was young. He was...

...smiling.

"If she wants me to come to her, then I will. But not until she calls me."

Temari stood where she was, continuing to stare after him long after he had gone.

* * *

"Here's my apartment. It's not much, but it's cool in the summer and warm in the winter. And anyways, you only have to put up with it for a while."

"I really appreciate this, Sakura-chan," Hinata said with a smile. The pink haired girl smiled back, nodding in return. She then proceeded down the hall and opened one of the doors.

"This is the bedroom you'll be staying in. Again, it's not much, but feel free to decorate it however you want."

"Ah," the white eyed girl responded with a nod.

"I'm gonna go make lunch," Sakura said with a smile. "You get unpacked as much as you can, and after we eat I'll help you with whatever's left."

"Hai." The blue haired girl watched as her new roommate left before putting down her luggage. At the very top of her first of three suitcases, she saw her heavy coat. A smile graced her lips. 'Haven't seen that in a while.'

* * *

Flashback

* * *

Hinata winced, rubbing a welt that one of the sand spirits had caused. They had been steadily growing in size, and with that, they had been growing in strength and speed as well.

"Again, Hinata." She only had enough time to nod before the spirits rushed at her again. The increase in speed increased the needed concentration, and the training was beginning to give her a headache. But she didn't give up, determined to better herself as fast as she possibly could.

She had been there for a full month, and she and Gaara hadn't really spoken except for that one night she had thanked him. Maybe...she had said something that had offended him? Shaking her head, she reminded herself that she didn't exactly have time to contemplate things like that at the moment.

The speed of her attacks had increased surprisingly since Temari had forced her to stop wearing her coat. The desert heat hadn't exactly made workouts easy with it, since the net shirt was surprisingly hot as well.

"Surprised to see you here," Temari said from the trainer's observation deck, set high over the training floor. "You haven't been in here in years. I thought you preferred training on your own?"

"Hn," Gaara said in response, standing beside the blonde with his arms crossed over his chest. "Why do you care? Is my presence a bother?"

"Nah, just curious." Temari blinked a couple of times before following his eyes to what he was focused very intently on. "Ah...she interests you, I assume?"

"No," the younger Sand nin answered, perhaps a little too quickly. "I was just bored and I heard sound down the hallway. She's loud when she trains."

Temari had to admit – her little brother was right. Hinata had a tendency to cry out with her strikes, but that was normal.

Smirking slightly, the blonde closed one eye and looked back at Gaara. No matter what he said, she knew the shinobi was at least slightly interested in the Konoha ninja. If he wasn't, he wouldn't have saved her.

"...she's pretty good," Gaara finally said. "Have you considered upping her training?" He knew that Hinata was staying there for training, though why she would come to Sunagakure of all places was beyond him. It was probably just a matter of her having taken the wrong direction – after all, the Country of Wind was the most desolate of all of them.

"Yeah, it's been considered," Temari said with a nod. "However, I don't want to use my fan against her, and I don't trust Kankurou."

"He does get a little carried away when it comes to using Karasu," Gaara said quietly, moving his hands to his pockets. He narrowed his eyes slightly. "Demo...she needs more training than this."

Temari smirked at him, laughing quietly and causing him to blink at her a few times. "Are _you_ offering to supervise her training?"

* * *

"Your hair grows really fast," Temari said, sitting behind Hinata and brushing her hair. They had become roommates since the younger girl had recovered, mainly because they liked each other's company.

'She reminds me of a cross between Tenten and Sakura,' Hinata thought with a smile. "Really?" she asked, glancing back without moving her head. It was true – in a single month, her hair had grown to her chin.

"Yep. You want us to cut it back to how it was, or let it grow out?"

"Well...I've never had long hair," the Hyuuga girl said thoughtfully. "It's always been that length. So I guess I'll let it grow out, and if I don't like it, I can always cut it back."

"Yep," Temari said, smiling. "But once it's a bit longer, it might be wise to start putting it in a ponytail. Your training is going to be getting harder soon, and you don't want anything getting in your way."

"It is?"

"Ah. Gaara came and watched your training today."

"H-he did?"

Temari had to stifle a giggle. She knew what that stutter meant – though why a girl as nice as Hinata would be developing a crush on Gaara, who she had only spoken with one, was something she didn't understand at all. It was obvious that she hadn't spoken to him enough – she wasn't scared of him. But if she took the offer, she would be soon enough.

"Yep. He said that your skills are growing at a faster rate than your training, and he feels you aren't being pushed enough. And it's your choice, since it's your training, but you basically have two options. One, you can stick with what we're doing, and I'll try to increase it as best as I can.

"However, I would go with the second option. Gaara wants to supervise your training."

"H-hontou?"

"Un. And trust me; you'll grow at a much faster rate than you are now."

"Alright. When would it start?"

"Day after tomorrow. But I must warn you. Gaara was born without a conscience, feelings, or a heart, sold his soul, and had the only caring bone in his body surgically removed. He won't kill you by any means, but if you take this training, you're gonna get hurt. Are you okay with that?"

"Hai," Hinata said immediately. She clenched her fist, staring down at it. "If it means I'll get stronger...I'll do anything. I don't care about the costs."

Temari smiled faintly. "Wow...you _are_ determined." She put the brush down beside her, and Hinata turned to face her.

"Hinata-chan, can I ask you something?"

Curiosity filled the blue haired girl's eyes as she nodded. "Of course, Temari-chan."

"Why are you so determined to get better all of the sudden?"

Hinata looked down at her lap. "I...I want to prove to my friends and family back in Konoha that...I'm not weak anymore. I want to show my cousin that it _is_ possible for someone like me to change."

Temari remembered the speech Neji had given Hinata during the Chuunin exam. But...that was six years ago. Was she still carrying that around with her...?

"Naruhodo," the Sand nin said with a smile. "Well, then, I completely understand. Don't worry – when you go back to Konoha, you'll be able to beat your cousin into the ground and still have enough chakra to go a few more rounds."

* * *

Temari hadn't been kidding when she had said Gaara's training would be harder.

Hinata ducked under a punch from his sand clone, then side-stepped another. Raising her leg, she gave it a clean roundhouse kick to its head.

This was all physical training. She didn't use any chakra, and the sand clone only gave punches and things like that anyway. But for what was essentially an animated sand castle, it was pretty hard to get rid of.

Her next punch caught it squarely in the chest, which caught it off guard enough for her to hit its head off completely with one more kick. Crouching and putting her hands on her knees, the white eyed girl gasped for breath as the clone deformed, sand pooling around her feet.

Normally she wasn't this tired after just fighting the sand clone...but she had also been doing a lot of running around earlier, so she had been physically drained before she had even started the mock fight.

Hinata closed her eyes, still trying to catch her breath. She was beginning to feel the familiar pain in her chest again. Normally...she would have stopped her training long ago...but she didn't want him to think she was weak. She probably should have told him about her heart.

Too late now.

Gaara watched her from the tree he had been standing in to keep away from the training. When he had started training her four months ago, the first thing he had done was take her away from Sunagakure to a better location for mock battles.

Of course, they still returned on occasion at Temari's request. Every time they did, she would pester him about what they had been doing, as if she expected an answer other than 'training'. And, that was honestly all they had done. He was pleased with the results, as well – when they had started, it took her forever to get rid of the sand clone, and now it was hardly anything to her.

The redhead continued to watch as Hinata fell back into a laying position, her arms spread out beside her and her eyes closed. Her hair almost touched her shoulders now, and she kept it back in a ponytail during training.

Yet, he loved it when she let her hair down. Hinata was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and letting her hair fall around her face merely added to it. He was still paranoid about sleeping even though Shukaku no longer tried to overtake him, and found himself watching her most nights. Not like he would tell her that – it made him sound like a stalker.

But it wasn't anything like that. In the time he had been training her, the pain in his heart had been steadily disappearing. It was barely even there anymore. He truly felt that he...

'What am I thinking...?' he thought, running a hand through his hair. 'I'm being an idiot. Hn. I don't need anything like that.' (A/N: Liar.)

Jumping down from the tree, he walked over to her. "You're doing well, Hinata. We'll stop for the day." He blinked when he didn't get a response.

"Hinata...?" he asked, crouching down next to her. She looked a lot paler than usual. He hesitated before gently putting his hand on her shoulder. "Hinata," he repeated, a little louder.

The Hyuuga began coughing violently, startling the sand nin quite a bit. She then put her arms behind her and forced herself into a sitting position, coughing again.

Gaara watched in confusion as blood splattered from her mouth into her lap. The sand clone hadn't hurt her that badly...had it...?

She very shakily looked up at him, blood running out of the corners of her mouth. He could barely hear what she said as a very faint smile crossed her lips.

"Gaara-kun...g...gomen ne..."

What she said didn't even register in Gaara's mind before she passed out against his chest.

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

"Come on, come on!"

Hinata sweatdropped as Kiba pulled her down the street by her wrist, a musical note over his head. Shino was following at a slower pace, trying to disassociate himself from the other male.

"Where exactly are we going, Kiba-kun?" Hinata asked, wiping the sweatdrop away with the back of her hand.

"My apartment. We need to celebrate you coming back, and besides, we have stuff to talk about."

"Stuff? That's rather vague," Shino said, shoving his hands into his pockets, where they were almost permanently housed.

"Well, it's also accurate," the Almost a Dog said indignantly, glaring back at him. "We _do_ have stuff to talk about. Now, come on!"

Hinata couldn't hold back her smile. Honestly, it was really nice being back in Konoha. Well...the difference in temperature was a rather strong shock to her system, but she had missed her teammates and her friends.

Once in Kiba's apartment, Hinata was plopped onto a couch, a bottle of sake thrust into her hands. She blinked a few times as Kiba just grinned and waved his hand as if to tell her to drink up. She then glanced over at Shino, who just shrugged slightly with a massive sweatdrop.

Kiba then retreated to the kitchen after shoving a bottle into the bug trainer's hands.

"What's gotten into him?" the Hyuuga female asked a little nervously, looking at Shino as he sat on the couch as well.

"He's just overly hyper at you being back," her teammate responded, opening the top part of his coat and removing his sunglasses. His teammates were the only ones he did that around, and no matter how many times she saw it, Hinata couldn't get used to it.

She assumed it was for the bugs, whatever the reason, but still, he had the most beautiful green eyes she had ever seen.

Shaking her head, Hinata removed the top of the bottle and took a small sip of the warm liquid. She was determined both to a) not get drunk, and b) leave before Kiba got _too_ drunk.

"What was it you wanted to talk about, Kiba-kun?" she asked as the self-proclaimed team leader returned, flopping backwards into a recliner with a bottle in his own hand.

"Well, actually, you came at a good time," he responded, then took a long drink from his bottle before setting it on the table in front of him. "Kurenai-sensei was talking to us about a mission quite recently."

Shino's 'ah' of remembrance caught Hinata's attention briefly before she redirected it to Kiba. "What sort of mission?" she asked, folding her hands around her bottle.

"Nothing too big. It seems that there are a few of Orochimaru's thugs left, and we just need to take care of them. But we had a question for you.

"What's that?" she asked, taking another small sip of her drink. It seemed that the more she drank, the better it tasted...hm...

"Well...we didn't really know how you would answer, but...we wanted to know if you would rejoin the team."

Hinata blinked a few times before smiling and nodding. "Of course," she said cheerfully. "I never left the team, anyway. I just...had some things that I had to take care of on my own."

"Great!" Kiba said enthusiastically. He then took a long drink. "Then...IT'S TIME TO _CELEBRATE_!"

* * *

Well, she hadn't left in time to keep from getting drunk. However, it wasn't as unpleasant as she had been told.

However, it was just a tad hard to keep her balance.

Humming contentedly to herself, she weaved her way back to Sakura's apartment. She was just glad that she actually remembered where she was going – Kiba had been the one hanging out the window and screaming that flaming squirrels were eating his tongue and had eventually passed out on the coffee table with a vase on his head and flowers sticking out of his ears.

"Well, hello, my dear. Are you lost?"

_That_ sobered her up really, really fast.

She turned around just in time to get shoved against the wall. "I can help you find your way back...for a price."

"Who are you...?" she asked nervously. She knew she wasn't up to a fight right now, and she could see the Konoha forehead protector.

"Doesn't matter. Let's play."

"NO!" she screamed, slapping the man hard across the face.

He seemed shocked for a minute before growling low in his throat. "You bitch!" he yelled. She heard the sound of a knife being drawn right before the cold metal plunged into her stomach.

Coughing up blood, she managed to kick him right in his groin before getting just enough chakra in her palm to knock the man's brains against the wall with a good punch to the temple.

However, it felt like the knife had drawn out most of her chakra. Placing her hands on her stomach, she slid down the wall. Looking around, she realized that she _hadn't_ known where she was going – she was in an alley.

'I should have let Shino walk me home...' she thought before passing out.

Blood leaked onto her bracelet, causing it to glow a very soft red before slowly falling apart in grains of sand, falling to the ground gently. It then started to reshape next to her, steadily getting larger.

Once it had finished, Gaara stared down at her. He looked around quickly, seeing the nearby man who had gotten an impromptu lobotomy. Despite the situation, he couldn't suppress a small snort.

'I see the training did her well. But she still seems has a lot of problem with men...' he thought before kneeling down next to her, taking note of all the blood. He leaned down, smelling the alcohol on her breath.

The Sand nin had no clue what she had been doing – as far as he knew, she didn't really even like drinking that much. But he was more than a little worried when he examined her wound.

Thankful he had been to the Konoha hospital once before, Gaara hooked one arm under her neck and raised his first two fingers, closing his eyes. Sand surrounded both of them, causing them to disappear.

They were deposited in front of the doors of the hospital. He saw how pale she was, and could feel that her chakra was pretty much depleted. Carrying her bridal style into the building, he got the attention of the first orderly he saw.

* * *

"Sir, you can come in now."

Gaara walked into the hospital room, his focus on the bed. Hinata looked even more pale than usual, lying against the white sheets.

"How is she...?" he asked the nurse, looking back towards the doorframe.

"She'll be fine in a few days. We closed the wound and bandaged it, and her chakra is recovering well on its own. Might I ask...what happened out there?"

"She was attacked in an alley...as best as I could figure out. I found her unconscious." Which was the truth. But he wasn't going to say he teleported through a bracelet. It had reappeared on his arm, so he gently removed it and walked over to her, laying it on her bedside table.

"I'll return momentarily," the woman said, leaving the room. Gaara just continued to stare down at Hinata.

He wanted to stay. He wanted to stay with her so badly. But considering the reputation he had among her friends, it wasn't a good idea. Sure, they knew that he had changed for at least a short amount of time, but considering how long he had been away from Konoha, it would be easy for them to believe he had gone back to old days and had been the one to hurt her.

So he had to leave again. No matter how much he hated it, he had to. Scanning the room, he found a piece of paper and a red pen. He very quickly scrawled a single kanji on it and rolled it up, folding it around the bracelet. Placing one arm beside her head, he slowly leaned down and kissed her very gently.

"Hinata-chan...I'll come back one day," he promised in a barely-audible whisper before standing up again. He then slowly moved his fingers up to his lips. What was he doing...?

When the nurse entered, he walked over to her.

"Do me a favor," he said quietly. He had a plan to make sure that all of her friends would find out what happened in fifteen seconds at maximum. "I want you to tell one person that she's here. But it would be best to wait until morning."

"A-alright, sir," she said, unsure as to why he couldn't just tell them himself. "Who should I have the message delivered to?"

"A one Uzumaki Naruto."

* * *

Flashback

* * *

Hinata groaned slightly and raised a hand to her head. At least, she started to, and when she did, she felt a violent pain in her chest. She instantly dropped her hand back to her side and slowly looked around her.

She was in a hospital room. That was odd. How did she...

Her head snapped to the foot of the bed instantly as she felt some movement...and saw Gaara sitting in a chair, his arms folded on the edge of the bed. He was using his arms as a pillow, and was currently sound asleep.

'That's right...' she thought. 'My heart...I passed out...chikusho...'

Hinata very slowly moved her hand up to her chest and felt bandages there. Had...she gotten surgery? Well, yeah, that was a dumb question. Of course she had.

She pushed herself with her arms slightly, making it so she could sit up a little while using the pillows as a back rest. She folded her hands in her lap, being careful not to disrupt the IV in the back of her left hand, and switched her gaze down to Gaara.

'Has...he stayed here the entire time?' she thought, tilting her head to the side. 'That's so sweet...'

She felt a gentle blush on her face and instantly looked down at her hands, the blush deepening. She didn't know why...but...she had been thinking how absolutely beautiful he looked when he was asleep. 'Idiot,' she thought in embarrassment, shaking her head.

After a few minutes, Hinata heard a gentle groan and saw that he had woken up. "I see you're awake," she said with a smile.

Gaara blinked at her groggily a few times before giving her an extremely small smile...which was still quite a bit, considering who it was coming from. He then slowly sat up and stretched, his back cracking from the stiffness of staying in one position for so long.

"How are you feeling?" he asked dazedly, draping one arm over the back of the chair. He hadn't expected her to be unconscious for a full week.

"Much better," she said, looking down at her lap. "I...didn't tell you what was wrong with my heart...gomen..." she said very quietly.

Her head shot up as she felt his arms around her shoulders, pulling her in a hug against his chest. Any pain that she should have felt in her chest was instantly forgotten. She blushed dark red and very slowly moved her hands up to his arms, looking up at him.

"I'm...just glad you're okay," he said a little awkwardly, but still didn't let go.

She blinked slowly before smiling and closing her eyes. "Hai...thank you for staying with me..." she said quietly.

Once he pulled back, he rubbed the back of his neck, looking away quickly. Hinata blinked a few times when she saw his face. It was faint...but...he was blushing as well. She couldn't help smiling again.

"Oh...yeah," he said, reaching down to his wrist and pulling off one of the bracelets. He then held it out to her. "Here."

"What's this?" she asked as she took it. It was just a simple silver bracelet...but it was beautiful none the less.

"Well...it's part of a sealing technique. You know how I told you about sealing the Shukaku in these?"

"Hai."

"Well, it's really only in this one that I'm still wearing. If I give the other one to someone else, then it about doubles their chakra. Also...it helps me protect you."

When she blinked, he continued. "Er...if your blood or your tears touch this bracelet, it will summon me. That's how it helps."

"Anou...you'd do this for me...?"

He simply nodded.

The radiant smile she gave him made _anything_ worth whatever price it demanded.

* * *

End Flashback

* * *

"Hinata-chan!"

The Hyuuga slowly opened her eyes, wincing and moving the arms that had been folded over her stomach. Yeah, that really hurt. She then slowly looked around.

Well, she was in a hospital room, that was for sure. But that wasn't what was confusing her.

'Are...this many people even _allowed_ in a hospital room...?' she thought. She was glad it was a fairly large room. Closest to her were Naruto, Neji, Kiba, Sakura, and Tenten. Scattered around the room were Lee, Ino, Shikamaru, Shino, Kurenai, and Asuma.

"Yaaay, Hinata-chan's awake!" Naruto exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air. She giggled slightly, despite the pain in her stomach.

"How...long have I been out...?" she asked quietly.

"Three days," Kurenai said, walking over to the bed and pushing Naruto out of the way rather unceremoniously, since he was being the most disruptive. They were all happy; he was just the loudest about it. "We've been watching over you the whole time."

"Who...brought me here...?"

"Apparently, the nurse doesn't know his name. She just keeps saying your boyfriend," Hinata's sensei added a little suspiciously, causing the white eyed girl to blush dark red.

"N-nani...?"

"She also said he left this," she said, gesturing to the bracelet on her bedside table.

Hinata was about to ask something else when the door opened. "My...aren't we the popular one, Hyuuga-san?" the nurse asked with a faint smile. She had a delivery of flowers in her hand.

"Who are those from...?"

"Oh, these?" The nurse set them in a vase next to her bed. "They're from the same young man who brought you in here and left the bracelet. I assume he's your boyfriend."

"My boyfriend...?"

"Yes...you know. The red haired young man."

"H-he was here?" Hinata asked, wide-eyed.

"Hai...you didn't know?" the nurse asked before shrugging, bowing, and leaving the room.

Hinata slowly picked the bracelet up and pulled off the strip of paper, putting the bracelet back on. She then unfolded the paper in her hands, staring at the single kanji.

The same as on his forehead. Love.

She smiled and hugged it to her chest, a faint blush on her face and ignoring the confused stares of her friends.

* * *

Starr: YES! I'M DONE WITH CHAPTER FOUR! WOOTS ALL AROUND! Told ya you get sentimental, Gaara.

Gaara: ...

Starr: But it's cute though, ne? A relationship that's sorta not a relationship (sweatdrops) Anyways...it's time for the...

FRIENDLY SHOUTOUT DISPLAY THINGYMAJIGGER!

**chinadoll27: **Well...I tried to update soon...oh well. Hope you like this chapter too!

**Nataku19: **Wow...you're French? Never would have guessed...you type better English than most people I know...but I'm glad you like the story! First time I've had a fanfic called brilliant, too! YAY! Hai, I like...Gaara x Hinata, Kiba x Hinata, and Lee x Hinata (please don't ask)...I dunno, she seems like such a flexible person relationship-wise...

**khmer shinobi: **Hey, fun, a teddy bear! Well, take THIS! (Pulls out a stuffed rabbit) ... (Stares at it) ...I suck at this. Oh well. (Merely hides behind Gaara again)

Gaara: Hey, I recognize that thing...

Starr: You shush, I'm not done replying to reviewers.

**Sarehptar: **Hm...what's Gaara doing? (Points to the beginning of her story and smiles) Angsting. But the flashbacks are almost over, and they'll become a couple soon, so he won't be doing that long!

**K-CHAN AND IT: **Heh, don't worry, all shall be explained soon. There are still more Gaara flashbacks, but he's gonna become a main part of the current timeline in...the next chapter. Wee-ha!

**MegDeity: **Hm...this chapter is at least close to seventeen pages. I'll try to make the next few nice and long, too (Smile, smile)

**xxMizukixx: **You should get more soon...the wonders of being stuck in the hospital with nothing but a drawing pad and a laptop, both dedicated to GAARA! Fwaha. ...yes, I'm obsessed, so sue me.

**rikkufx: **Heh, you mean like this?

**Gaahina chan: **Ah, I love people like you! People who like my story rock as far as I'm concerned!

Starr: Wow...I think this is the most reviews I've gotten for one chapter. EVERYONE GETS COOKIES! (Throws all of her reviewers a box of cookies of their choice) Enjoy them while reading the next chapter!

Oh...sadness...I'm pretty sure this fic is only going to have two more chapters...maybe three, not including the epilogue. However, I'll try to make them long like this one.

I also have two more Naruto fics in the works, and they'll both be GaaHina. One of them takes place after this one, and the other is a completely different falling-in-love storyline. I also have a LeeHina one in mind...anou...it might be a bit weird, but hey, I'm willing to try anything.

Gaara: Too much emotion...(reading the storyboard for the next chapter)

Starr: Shut up, you like it and you know it.

Gaara: ...

Starr: I'll take your silence as consent. Ja ne, mina!


	5. Meaning of my Life

Sand Knight

Chapter Five : Meaning of my Life

Disclaimers: Alright! I've gotten six reviews for my chapter before it's even been _up_ for twenty-four hours, so I'm taking that as a message saying...you people want more!

Gaara: (Still reading the storyboard) Why did you draw this?

Starr: I felt like it.

Gaara: ...why are we all chibis?

Starr: Because it's more kawaii that way (SMILE!)

Gaara: (Face-faults) This part is just WRONG as chibis!

Starr: Will you stop complaining? PREPARE FOR MORE GAARA OOC-NESS!

Gaara: I'm leaving.

Starr: Get back here.

Kiba: Woo, look at me, I'm in the disclaimer!

Starr: Oh, yeah, for those of you who love GaaHina as much as I do, check out my C2 Community. If you have any GaaHina fanfiction, I would greatly appreciate more in the archive since...all I have at the moment is Sand Knight. Heh, guess that's what comes from being the only staff with only one GaaHina fiction thus far, ne? Anyways...since I know all of you have been waiting...on with the next chapter!

NOTE! This chapter is delayed because I've been busy and sick. Sorry.

_Current Song : Swaying Necklace and the Hinata vs. Neji theme from the Naruto soundtrack_

---

"Alright. We're going to move out as soon as the sun rises. Make sure you get back before it sets. Everyone remember your objectives and your group arrangements?"

"Ah."

"Alright. Move to your starting points now to make sure you're ready in time." The Konoha shinobi nodded, separating out into three groups and heading in different directions. If they had to go as soon as the sun was up, it gave them about fifteen minutes to get into place.

Hinata was actually glad they were going in the direction they were – they just headed straight out the village gate. The others either went all the way around the wall to their starting point, or (depending on the level of stubbornness in the group) climbed over it.

Kiba stretched his arms over his head and tapped one foot on the ground, waiting anxiously for the start of the mission. It was the longest one in a while, and besides, Hinata had said she had been gone for training. He wanted to see how much she had improved. Stifling a yawn, he twitched slightly. Well, he was tired, so he also wanted to get it over with so he could go back to bed, but that was another matter entirely.

Neji crossed his arms over his chest, sighing gently. He didn't know how he got stuck with Kiba _again_. Hadn't the mission to rescue Sasuke been enough? Well, the only upside was they had an extra member on their team, what with Akamaru being there.

Naruto, the other team member Neji was less than ecstatic about, bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, humming to himself. Kakashi had told him that if the mission went over well, he would buy him all the ramen he could eat. 'And I sort of trust him to pay for it, unlike Ero-Sennin,' the blonde thought bitterly before returning to his sheer glee.

Neji shook his head at the other male's actions before looking over at Hinata, who was focused intently on the just-rising sun. He knew that Ino, Sakura, and Tenten had been drilling her constantly about her so-called 'boyfriend' to no avail. They had also tried to get the paper around the bracelet from her with no luck whatsoever. But that hadn't fazed them in the three days since she had been released from the hospital.

Whoever this guy was, it really pissed him off. He had a lot of nerve, acting that way towards _his_ cousin.

'Aaand there goes the Jealous Father rage again...dammit, Tenten, it's all your fault,' the Hyuuga thought with a cloud sigh, putting his wrist on his hip and closing his eyes.

"Do me a favor, both of you bakas, and don't act like you normally do," he said, keeping his eyes closed.

"Eh? Doushite?" Naruto asked with his typical level of confusion.

"Because I don't want to die before I can legally drink."

"NANTARU!"

"Dude, shut up, it's too early to yell," Kiba said, rubbing his ear and stifling another yawn. "Besides, if we get into a fight now, we'll never finish the mission on time and you won't get your ramen."

Well, that shut the blonde up rather quickly.

"Come on, let's just go," Neji said, pointing at the sun to indicate that it had risen. The others nodded, and with that, they headed off, the Hyuuga male in the lead. After all, the sooner they found these goons, the sooner they could come back and eat, sleep, or whatever the hell it was they wanted to do.

--Flashback--

"Kawaii!" Hinata said happily as she picked up the little ceramic bear figurine. Her companion's nonchalant shrug and 'hn' didn't faze her happy smile as she set it down and continued scanning the store.

She had no clue that there were places like this in Sunagakure. Well, to be honest, she didn't know much about it at all. Before she had come here, she didn't think much about the village, and when she had been training with Temari, she rarely left the Kazekage's tower.

Gaara couldn't suppress a small smile once her back was turned, crossing his arms over his chest. Once he had told Temari what had happened, she had basically threatened him within an inch of his life unless he brought Hinata back. Well, it was nice to know that the Hyuuga girl had friends, but it wasn't like he was _killing_ her with the training. He hoped.

She was still recovering from her surgery, so she had doctor's orders to take time off from her training. So for a few days, she was merely going around Sunagakure, checking out the few sights in the area. He had probably sounded a little silly, insisting on coming with her today, but to be quite honest, he didn't want to be separated from her for very long.

Gaara closed his eyes, shaking his head. What was wrong with him?

"Hey, that girl's pretty hot."

"Yep. Hey, why don't you ask her out? If she's agreeable, maybe we can have some fun with her."

"Good idea."

The redhead was snapped out of his trance by the sounds of voices near him, opening his eyes. The sight immediately filled him with both possessiveness and rage. Two rather lecherous-looking guys were staring at Hinata, who was sort of off in her own little world, obsessing over a different figurine.

The first man made a move towards her, but was immediately stopped by the sound of a fist hitting the wall.

Hinata blinked in surprise before looking up, finding herself face-to-face with Gaara. He was less than three inches away from her, one hand in his pocket and the other in a fist against the wall above her head. If she hadn't been so shocked by the combination of the sudden closeness and the anger and possessiveness in his eyes, she would have blushed. (A/N: Blatant stealing from another anime. I'll give the first reviewer who can name the anime and characters a Zen cookie.)

His icy gaze slowly shifted from her to the two males, narrowing slowly. They didn't need any more warning, and had headed out the door less than five seconds later.

"We should be getting back," he said as he shifted his gaze back to her. "Temari will send out a rescue squad if we aren't back by dark."

The sound of his voice made him wince inwardly. It wasn't harsh, or cruel, or even angry, but...it came close to betraying every emotion he felt at being so close to her - love, need, desire, and lust were the main elements, but there were a few others thrown in, such as possessiveness, protectiveness, and jealousy.

But either Hinata didn't catch any of this, or didn't acknowledge it, and merely nodded. Not trusting himself not to do anything right in the middle of the store, Gaara immediately moved his hand to his other pocket and backed away from her slightly to allow her to go first.

As he watched her go, he closed his eyes and shivered slightly, licking his upper lip. He couldn't afford to let anything like that happen again. Shaking his head, he opened his eyes and followed her.

-

It was a beautiful night, as nights in Sunagakure went. There wasn't a cloud in the sky to obstruct the view of the stars, and the windows were open to allow the soft, cool breeze to float inside.

Hinata sat in her bed, her knees hugged to her chest, her gaze on the sheets in front of her.

What the _hell_ had that been all about!

Gaara's actions in the shop had surprised her, to say the very least. When she first looked up at him, she had noticed the jealous rage in his eyes, but had brushed it off.

That was, until he had spoken. She had heard the jealous rage in his voice...but she also heard more than that. Much, much more.

And just the thought that she might be right about hearing all of it excited her to no end.

But she had to remind herself – this was _Sabaku no Gaara_. He had made it perfectly clear that he didn't need anyone, most certainly not her. They were friends, and nothing more. She had realized that those men were staring at her with his actions...maybe she had imagined most of the emotions in his voice. Maybe he was just looking out for her, and didn't want her to get hurt.

Why did that thought disappoint her so much?

She wanted to sleep, but she couldn't. It was too quiet in the room, and too noisy in her head. Lying on her side, she stared at the bracelet, slowly letting her fingers drift over the metal. It was warm, and it had a sort of energy coming from it – the same energy she felt whenever she got near him. It comforted her to no end.

Closing her eyes, she sighed and tried to empty her mind of thoughts. She was going to begin training again tomorrow, and she needed to be rested. She had to keep her mind as blank as possible in order to sleep.

She fell asleep five minutes later, her mind dwelling on the only time she had seen him smile.

-

He punched the wall as silently as he possibly could. He supposed that wasn't really saying much, since he put a hole in the wood, but it was quieter than it could have been.

Barely glancing at the blood the wood had drawn, Gaara flung himself onto his bed and draped his arm over his eyes, groaning slightly in exasperation with himself. What had he been _thinking_ earlier?

He already knew the answer to that question. He _hadn't_ been thinking earlier, which was why he had done it.

The sand nin hadn't realized what he had been doing until he began speaking – and even then, it had taken every ounce of his self control to keep himself from kissing Hinata right then and there.

He finally had a friend. He finally had a _good_ friend. Why was he looking to ruin something like this by going and doing something so stupid? He didn't even want to think about what she would do if he actually went through with what he had been thinking. Well...if he had actually gone through with _everything_ he had been thinking, the store owners wouldn't have been too happy with him either. Some passers-by might have been, though.

He slapped his forehead, maybe a little harder than necessary. He was doing it again – thinking stupid thoughts. He had to remember that Hinata was his friend, and nothing else.

'She deserves someone who's a hell of a lot better than I am,' he thought with a little depression, closing his eyes. It would probably be best to keep his distance for a while.

-

_Dear Neji-niisan,_

_Konnichiwa! First, please, do not be angry with me for disappearing. I had some things that I needed to work out. Mainly I was training. I know, I could have gotten that back in Konohagakure, but I had my own reasons for leaving._

_Anyway, I'm perfectly fine. Maybe this is a little pretentious, writing a note like this after having been gone for nine months, but it would be even more so to just return with no warning, right? If I made anyone worry, please tell them that I'm sorry. However, if I had told them, I know they would have stopped me._

_I'm coming back home in two days – that should be around the same time this letter reaches you. In fact, I'm writing this because I happened to find a Konoha delivery falcon where I am. I think it might be Kakashi-sensei's...I get the paranoid feeling that he's spying on me._

_Oh...do you remember the heart trouble that I had? Well, this is just between family, you understand. You know how it never fully healed? My traveling companions found out about it (through no fault of mine) and I had surgery done. I'm completely fine now._

_I do hope you aren't very angry with me. I just needed to prove myself. You told me that destinies can never be changed...but I think I changed mine. I hope to see you soon._

_With love,_

_Hinata_

-

Folding the letter with a satisfied smile, Hinata looked out the window, focusing on a little dust devil a distance away. She loved it here in Sunagakure – she honestly did. But...it was time for her to go back.

Looking at the footboard of her bed, she smiled at the Konoha falcon she saw sitting there patiently, waiting for her to finish. She didn't know what sort of business that falcon would have had in Sunagakure, but she had whistled for it using the sound Neji had taught her. She had never tried it before, but sure enough, it immediately changed directions and headed right for her, eager to deliver another message for a Konoha ninja.

When these falcons scanned the skies, they learned the faces of every inhabitant of Konoha, and their trainers taught them their names. So it was no task for someone to tell them the name of the one they wanted the letter delivered to.

Folding the message around the falcon's leg, Hinata carried the bird over to the window. "I want you to take this to Hyuuga Neji, alright?" When the bird nodded, she opened the window and stretched her arm outside, watching it take flight.

She then closed the window again and turned, walking out of the room.

-

He felt his heart stop briefly as he heard the same gentle knock he had heard nine months ago.

Gaara immediately felt guilty – ever since that incident in the store a couple of months ago, he had rarely spoken to Hinata. It was merely because he didn't want to jeopardize their friendship any further, but there was no telling how the leaf nin had interpreted his sudden lack of interest.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking up from yet another book. This was familiar.

Hinata came in and smiled a little nervously at the sand nin. It was true; she thought that she had done something terribly wrong and that he was mad beyond all reason. But she was about to leave, so she wanted to at least tell him goodbye. Especially since Kankurou had gone off on some sort of self-appointed mission, and Baki had sent Temari along to make sure he didn't kill himself.

"Anou...Gaara-san?" she asked a little hesitantly. He felt a very small amount of that familiar pain in his chest – she had called him 'Gaara-kun' once, but he had been a fool to think she might call him it again. Hell, she probably didn't even realize she had done it.

"Yes, Hinata?" he asked quietly, standing up and fighting the urge to call her '-chan' like Temari did.

"I just...wanted to thank you," she said, looking down at her feet and shifting slightly before bowing. Ice blue eyes widened slightly as they watched her straighten up again, snow white eyes concentrating on the ground. "I wanted to thank you for training me, and allowing me to stay here for so long. I believe that I achieved what I needed to, and I feel that it's my duty to return to Konohagakure."

The pain, which had been increasing because she refused to look at him, doubled with that. She was leaving. She was going back to the Hidden Leaf.

"Don't worry about it," was all he could manage.

"Demo...Gaara-san...?"

"Yeah?"

"If...I need you...can...I still use the bracelet...?" she began, hesitantly.

Gaara blinked a few times in surprise. What kind of a question was that? He had given it to her, hadn't he? And he hadn't asked for it back...so what had given her the impression that she couldn't?

"Of course you can, Hinata. Whenever you need me."

His eyes widened again as she looked up at him in surprise before she smiled. The smile that had made him fall in love with her. "Arigatou," she said, her voice filled with relief.

'...did she honestly think I was that mad at her?' he thought, watching her as she came closer to him.

"Tell Temari-chan and Kankurou-san goodbye for me, alright?" she asked.

The redhead could only nod, wondering why she was coming so close to him. Hinata confused him to no end.

After that, every mental process in his head ceased as she leaned up and kissed his cheek very gently.

He stayed grounded to the spot a long time after she left. At least he was able to keep the blush down until she was gone.

Gaara was so deep in thought over that simple action that he didn't even notice the pain in his chest was gone again.

-

Neji put his hands behind his head, yawning quietly. He always thought that War was a boring card game, but it was doubly so when you weren't the one playing it.

"I'm winning!" Tenten said brightly. Lee glared at his own cards. Three cards left – a two, a five, and a six. Yeah, she was winning.

The Hyuuga male opened his eyes to stare at the ceiling. He was tired, since the letter he had received had practically given him a heart attack. He probably should tell his teammates about it, but to be quite honest, he didn't know if their reaction would be any better for their health than his was.

The Find the Missing Ninja / Find and Kill the Kidnapper escapades had ended about a month after Hinata had disappeared. It wasn't that they didn't care anymore...it was just that they had pretty much given up hope.

Kiba and Shino had continued their missions with much less zeal than normal. However, since they were still short on ninjas, Tsunade had counted Akamaru as a member of their group so they still had three.

"Okay, what's eating you?" Tenten asked irritably, raising one card and thwaping it against Neji's forehead. This snapped him out of his zoning-out and caused him to go cross-eyed briefly.

Rubbing the spot where she had hit him, he glared reproachfully at Tenten. "What do you mean by that?"

"You've been even further lost in thought today than you usually are," Lee said, shuffling the deck after stealing the last card back from Tenten. "That's not a good sign coming from you."

"What's with your pessimistic outlook all of the sudden?"

Tenten and Lee both gave him a blank look at the hypocritical remark but otherwise ignored it. However, they weren't going to let him just walk out on them like he had last time.

After a solid fifteen minutes of staring silence, Neji relented and handed Tenten the letter. "Here."

--End Flashback--

Neji, Kiba, and Naruto watched Hinata with a kind of morbid fascination as she proceeded to pound every opponent they found into the ground. She was still using Gentle Fist, but she was considerably faster and better at hitting the vital points.

'It's thanks to the Sand Clone training,' Hinata thought, cracking her knuckles. She then merely smiled at the other three.

"I don't think we were supposed to kill them, Hinata-chan," Naruto said, nudging one of the bodies with his foot.

"Too late now," she said with a shrug, putting her hands behind her head and smiling slightly. "I guess I just got a little over-enthusiastic. Gomen ne."

"No, don't apologize! It's awesome!" Naruto exclaimed, punching his fist into the air.

Kiba twitched. "Good Lord, you really are gonna end up killing me and Shino during training."

-

The days had passed relatively smoothly (or as smoothly as days passed in Konoha), and after about a month Hinata managed to find an apartment of her own.

Coming home after a mission late one evening, Hinata looked around with a contented smile. She had gotten all of her furniture from the head house, plus she had bought a few pieces with the money Hiashi had given her just out of pity.

Since returning to Konoha, Hinata had been working with Ino at her flower shop, and was planning to start a shop of her own. She had loved the figurines in Sunagakure, so she was thinking about starting a store with imported figurines from all of the hidden villages.

As she started to fix herself a late dinner, she thought more about that day in the shop. That had been so weird...'I still don't understand,' she thought with a sigh.

She then winced and lowered her head. She had just learned a valuable lesson – don't throw yourself deep into thought while using a large kitchen knife.

'Dammit...why is my luck so bad?' she thought, raising her hand before blinking as she watched blood trickle onto the bracelet.

'...great,' was her only thought as the sand began to reform. 'He's gonna be so mad at me...making him come here with no reason...'

"What happened?" were the first words out of his mouth as he took hold of her wrist. His grip was surprisingly firm, yet gentle, and she couldn't suppress a gentle blush at the sudden contact.

"I-it was an accident. I...I was using a knife and I was just careless. That's all."

Gaara didn't seem convinced as he examined the slash across her palm, kneeling on the floor and inadvertently forcing her to do the same.

Hinata closed her eyes, waiting for him to start yelling at her. She opened them again in confusion when she heard cloth ripping.

She looked at her hand and saw that he was wrapping a white bandage around her hand. She also saw that he had torn the cloth off of the wrap around his chest and waist.

"Wh-what are you doing?" she asked apprehensively.

"I'm stopping the bleeding," he answered calmly, not looking up at her.

"But..." she began, but stopped. She couldn't help noticing at this distance...

"Gaara-san...the rings around your eyes...why are they darker?"

"Hm? Oh. I...I haven't been sleeping again."

"Why? It's not the Shukaku, is it?" she asked in slight alarm.

"No, it's not the Shukaku," he said gently and slightly amused, looking up at her finally.

'At least he's not mad,' she thought with relief. "Then what?"

He sighed and closed his eyes. "The council of Sunagakure...they want me to get married. The even picked out a wife for me. But I refused...so they said I had to find someone before the end of the week."

"Oh...I see..." Hinata responded, struggling to keep the sad tone out of her voice. "What are you going to do about it?"

"...well..." Gaara began tentatively, looking away, "I...do have someone I want to ask. But...I'm not exactly sure what she'll say," he added as he finished tying the bandage and slipped the bracelet around her wrist again.

"Well, sometimes the direct approach is the best," Hinata said a little more brightly than was probably necessary, smiling a little wider than she meant to. "Thank you for bandaging my hand, Gaara-san," she said as she stood up and turned around, facing the cutting board again. "Do...you want to stay for dinner? I just started, it would be no problem to make more."

Gaara ignored her question as he stood up. "You...think I should just ask her?"

"Hai. I do," she said quietly.

"...what would she think of that?"

"...if she's right in the head, she'll be flattered. I think she's lucky."

"Y-you do?" Gaara asked, unable to keep the surprise out of his voice.

"Yeah. Despite what other people think, you're a good guy, Gaara-san. And I know that you'll protect the woman you love dearly." Hinata closed her eyes. She wished he would just leave before she started crying.

She opened her eyes again as she felt his hand over hers. "Well...if that's truly what you think..." He gently spun her around so she was facing him and knelt in front of her, placing both of his hands around one of hers. "Then...will you marry me, Hinata?"

Hinata found herself incapable of speaking in complete sentences. "You...I...b-but..." When she found the whole of her voice again, she managed, "You...want me...to marry you...?"

Gaara had been afraid of this reaction. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but it was too late now. So he merely nodded.

She closed her eyes, tears falling down her face. She knelt in front of him, pulled her hand away from his, and flung her arms around his neck with enough force to knock both of them back onto the ground.

That was all the answer he needed.

- - - - -

Starr: Told you. Gaara OOC-ness.

Gaara: I loathe and despise you with every fiber of my being.

Starr: Do not.

Gaara: Do too.

Starr: Oh, Hinata!

Hinata: (Kisses Gaara's cheek)

Gaara: (Melt)

Starr: Well, that was easy.

MORE SHOUTOUT FREINDSHIP STUFF!

Starr: GOOD LORD THERE ARE A LOT X.x

Gaara: And today, we learn that you don't go three months without updating - -

**Night-Owl123: **Ah, they will, don't worry (nod, nod) I might have her beat up Hanabi – I hate her (Growl)

**khmer shinobi: **Yep! Gaara's not to happy about the blushing part, but then again, it doesn't matter what he thinks.

**joann: **...like this?

**writerlover101: **Gotta love the kawaii-ness!

**M-python-girl: **Woo, no fanatic attack...yet...I'm glad!

**IT: **I'm very sorry that this chapter took so long (Sweatdrops) Well, if you go insane, you can join my family. We're all nuts.

**Hokai Amplifier: **Yep, cuteness abounds. And don't worry – Hinata beating Neji up will be happening soon!

**Gaahina chan: **Well, there aren't gonna be any more flashbacks, but I plan to keep it cute. Gotta appease the Fangirls (since I happen to be one myself)

**serialhugger: **LEE PLUSHIE! YAY! (Clings to the Lee plushie) Um...then...here! (Gives reviewer a Naruto plushie)

**xxMizukixx: **Heh, they'll come when I'm done with this one...Which will be...eventually.

**K-Chan: **"IT" as in creepy clown movie, or "IT" as in the one who reviewed? The movie was bad, go for the book. Anyways, I'm glad you like!

**DemonFireGirlHotaru: **Kya, long review! Yay! I'm glad I didn't confuse you and I answered your questions! And I'm pretty sure this chapter is about as long as the last one. 'Disturbing but cute' would make a good bumper-sticker.

**chinadoll27: **OOC Gaara is the best kind (nod, nod)

Gaara: No, it...I...um...you confused me!

Starr: See? Now shut up, I'm answering reviews. (Ties him up and gives him to chinadoll27) Hold, please.

**rikkufx: **Thanks! I'm trying.

**Kyuubi PandoraChan: **Kya, PandoraChan! Thank you so much for adding this to your website! I really appreciate it!

**shikaruTo: **Nah, not green like Sakura...more green like Minamino Kurama off of Yu Yu Hakusho. And everyone loves a blushy Gaara!

Gaara: (Would argue, but is tied up)

**OspreyAnimeG: **Yay, I'm happy you like it! GaaHina's one of my all-time favorite anime pairings.

**BadSam: **Here ya go (smile, smile)

**alliedoll: ** I fell in love with Gaara-kun the instant I saw him upside down in that tree...ahh...(has a fangirl moment) ...er...anyway, thanks!

**Caro: **Heh, I try not to misspell things. My mom's an English teacher, so she would slaughter me if I did.

**Sarehptar: **This chapter marked the end of _most_ of the angst, but not all of it. And yes, they're going to find out. And it's gonna be awkward. And rather funny (at least, it is to me). And if you want a cuddly Gaara...(Plops Sarehptar down next to chinadoll27) Here, you two share him.

**windwhisprer: **Well, some of them act a little weird because I hadn't seen the whole series when I started, but now I've seen all of what they've subbed thus far and can see my mistakes and go 'oh well'. But I was sort of surprised at how semi-accurate some of the attitudes are.

**Magy: **Nya, don't check every day, I'm bad when it comes to updating o.o But I'll try to get the next up faster!

**Shanice Miharu: **Aww, thank you! I feel special now! (Which is saying a lot coming from me X.x) And sorry if Gaara got too out of character in this chapter – it'll be better in the next.

**Sinceritea: **When it comes to cold characters and romance fanfics, I'm bad about letting them get out of character for a while, but they usually go back to normal!

**amy johnson: **Wow o.o Um...okay. I can do that.

**mUcHaChAnGiStAriRaY: **Thanks! The bracelet was sort of spur-of-the-moment, but I'm glad it worked.

Starr: THERE! 27 reviews, good Lord. Um...if I didn't reply to your comment, that's probably because it got sent to my bulk folder and deleted (because I never have time to sift through my bulk mail). Anyways...review!


	6. If You Want

Sand Knight

Chapter Six : If You Want

Disclaimers: None, really. At least, none that I haven't already made clear. Don't worry, Gaara'll go back in character around the other characters...

Gaara: Damn straight.

Hinata: (Sighs)

Gaara: What?

Starr: Chill out, both of you.

- - - - -

They were looking for her. Again.

Hinata had been missing for two days. They were all pretty positive that she hadn't left the village, but even so, she hadn't been coming to help Ino, and she hadn't been showing up for the training missions.

So, naturally, Kiba, Naruto, Sakura, Lee, and Tenten had taken a break in their Find the Missing Ninja panic (the sequel) and made their way to her apartment.

"Well, if she's not here, I don't know where else to look," Kiba said, scratching his temple.

"Shouldn't we have looked here first?" Sakura asked dryly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look on the bright side!" Lee exclaimed. "She'll probably be in the last place we'll look!"

"Well, yeah, because it would be _stupid_ to keep looking for her after we found her," Tenten said, thwaping the black haired male.

"I'll knock!" Naruto exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of his feet before hurrying over to the door and barraging it with knocks.

He stopped when he heard her drowsy 'Yeah...?' on the other side of the door. He opened his mouth to say something before he thought he heard another voice. All five of them pressed their ears to the wood to see if they could make out who it was.

"Don't get up..." groaned a distinctly male voice.

"I have to get u-ACK! Let go!"

"No. If you get up I won't have a blanket anymore."

"Well, you'll just have to deal."

"Not if you don't get up."

"I have to get up."

"Nope. Not letting you."

"But-" She cut herself off by giggling. "Stop it."

"Hm...no."

Blushing, the five of them exchanged 'We'll come back later' looks and retreated quickly before they heard anything else that they probably shouldn't.

-

They were really just lying on Hinata's couch, fully clothed except for the fact that Gaara seemed to have lost his shirt somehow. Hinata was lying on top of him since that was where he had dragged her, and he was disinclined to let her up again.

"Come on, lemme get up," she protested, thwapping him lightly on the shoulder.

"Fine, fine," he said, spreading his arms so that she wasn't being held against his chest anymore. She giggled and gave him a brief kiss on the nose, enjoying watching him blink and cross his eyes as a reflex.

Getting up, she saw a note that had been pushed under her door.

_Hinata-chan!_

_We need to talk! Really badly! Meet us at Ichiraku's ramen shop as soon as you're...um...done, kays?_

_-Tenten and Sakura_

Hinata smiled and shook her head before calling out. "Gaara-kun?"

"...yes?" he answered, still not used to being called that name, as he pulled his shirt back on to ward off the cold that was assaulting his chest.

"I have to go out for a little while. You can stay here, or..." she trailed off, figuring he would probably insert what he was going to do.

"I'm just going to go out to the forest," he answered, strapping on his gourd and sash.

"Okay," she said with a smile. "I'll be out there a little while later."

"Alright." They kissed briefly before going their separate ways; Hinata running to the ramen shop, and Gaara slowly making his way to the forest.

-

"So who is he?"

Hinata blinked as a chorus of three voices met her as soon as she stepped into the shop.

"Good morning to you, too," she said with a laugh, sitting next to Tenten. "And who is who?"

"The...the...the the the the the guy we heard you with!" Sakura started, waving her hands.

Hinata blushed a little. "Oh...him," she said before giggling. "Just...a friend," she said unconvincingly, ordering a bowl of ramen.

"Bullhonky!" Ino exclaimed, leaning over Tenten to poke Hinata with her chopsticks. "Okay, so I wasn't exactly there, but I heard what happened!"

"Nothing happened, really. I was just lying on top of him."

"On top of who?" Sakura asked, waving her hands again.

"Do we know this guy?" Tenten asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Yes."

"Is he from Konoha?"

"No."

"...THAT BOY YOU TRAVELLED WITH!" they all exclaimed at once.

Hinata sighed. "Alright, alright, it was him, it was him," she consented, blowing on a mouthful of ramen to cool it before eating it as delicately as ramen could be eaten.

"So is he your boyfriend now?"

"Nope."

They all blinked a few times. "Then what?" Tenten asked in confusion.

Hinata smiled. "Fiancée."

-

"Oi, Gaara, is that really you?"

Gaara blinked a few times before glancing over his shoulder as a certain blonde ran over to him, a look of confusion on his face.

"No," Gaara answered, just to see what the youth would say.

"...yeah, it is," Naruto said with a grin. "Only you would say something like that. Gimme a hug!"

"Don't touch me," he growled, crossing his arms over his chest. "What do you want, Uzumaki?"

Naruto laughed. He sure hadn't changed much. "Well, I'm bored," he said as Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, and Sasuke came over to see what the hell the blonde was doing. They all twitched and got 'doom' lines under their left eyes when they saw Gaara.

"I honestly don't know what you want me to do about that," Gaara answered blandly, barely even giving a glance to the other three.

"Well, what are you doing here?"

"I'm here on business."

"...Suna business?"

"No, my own," he answered quietly, looking up at the sky.

"Ooooh." Naruto nodded in the way that he did when he had no idea what was going on, but wanted you to think that he did.

"I have to go," Gaara said simply before continuing to walk in the same direction he had been.

-

Hinata left the ramen shop with no further explanation on the fiancée situation, humming a little tune to herself as she walked down the street towards the woods. She really hoped she would be able to find Gaara easily, and hoped he wouldn't be mad that she had had to say something about her getting engaged.

At least she hadn't mentioned him...yet.

"You really think she won't know we're here?" Ino whispered. Tenten shrugged.

The three of them had decided to follow Hinata, their curiosity getting the better of them as it tended to do.

"I hope not, or we won't find anything out," Sakura said, and the other two nodded in agreement.

Hinata was lost in her own little world, and in fact didn't notice that she was being followed as she continued into the forest.

-

"This is stupid."

"You got a better idea?"

"No, not really."

"We could go home."

"I agree."

"You would."

"I really have no preference either way."

"Will you guys shut up?" Naruto hissed, glaring at the other four. They merely shrugged.

Either Gaara hadn't noticed that he was being followed or he just flat didn't care – either way, he completely ignored the five ninjas in the bushes that surrounded the clearing he had stopped in.

"What's he doing?" Kiba whispered quietly.

"How should I know? Choosing his next victim or something?"

"Or trying to find the answer to life, the universe, and everything?"

"It's forty-two."

The guys blinked as Tenten, Sakura, and Ino came up behind them. "Fancy meeting you five here. You guys being stalkers as well?"

They all stopped talking as they saw someone else come into the clearing. Gaara turned his head to look at her – Hinata just looked evenly back at him.

"Oh shit," Kiba murmured.

That was all any of them could get out before sand streaked out of Gaara's gourd and wrapped around Hinata, pulling her closer to him.

They were about to jump to her defense, but then Gaara just started talking with her.

"Have fun?" he asked evenly, quirking his eyebrow (or lack thereof) at the blue haired girl.

"Actually, yes," she said with a giggle, tracing her finger through some of the sand that was wrapped around her. "But...don't get mad...I told them I was engaged."

Gaara looked a tad suspicious. "And they...?"

"...pestered me to tell them to whom. I didn't, though," she added quickly.

He shrugged. "You know that if you had, they would have tried to talk you out of it, right?"

"Ah," she muttered, sighing and hanging her head. "They're so stubborn and they wouldn't listen anyway.

Then, they heard a sound that was foreign to them – Gaara started laughing. "It can't be that bad," he said, smiling a little.

"Yes it can!" she exclaimed, a little frustrated that she was engaged and couldn't say to whom.

He quieted her with a gentle kiss.

The rest of them just stared in shock.

-

"SABAKU NO GAARA!"

Hinata winced a little and smiled sheepishly from her seat in Sakura's apartment. "Uh...yeah?"

Tenten couldn't help but laugh as Sakura and Ino face-faulted.

"What's so bad about it?" Hinata asked defensively, crossing her arms over her chest.

"...he didn't force you into it or anything, did he?" Ino asked suspiciously.

"No! It was just..." she began, telling them what had happened over the six months she had been gone.

"Wow, I didn't know he could be chivalrous," Sakura said, looking thoughtful.

"Neither did I," Hinata answered with a sigh. "But really, he's been nothing but a perfect gentleman to me...well, in his own sort of way."

"As long as you really love him, and he really loves you, I think it's great," Tenten said with a nod.

Hinata just smiled.

-

They got married six months later.

It was a simple wedding, mainly just family and friends, since Gaara wasn't particularly fond of large gatherings.

"You okay?" Shino asked Kiba, glancing over at his teammate.

Kiba gave him a bittersweet smile and shrugged. "I guess," he answered. "Besides, I wouldn't want to get her with me if she's happier with him," he added, closing his eyes.

"How thoughtful of you," Shino said, rolling his eyes.

"He's really not that bad of a guy," Naruto murmured to Sasuke, who nodded.

"Yeah, he's easier to get along with once you get to know him, that's for sure. I guess he's just always in a sour mood unless he's around Hinata."

"Well, at least _something_ can brighten him up," Naruto said with a nod.

"She had a crush on you, you know."

Naruto blinked. "What?"

"Hinata. She had a crush on you for the longest time."

"...I didn't know this," Naruto said, blinking again.

"Well, of course you didn't..."

Temari and Kankurou were watching quietly, the only two over on the groom's side.

"You think he'll be a little easier to get along with after this?" Temari asked her brother, leaning on her fan.

"Well, I guess. He hasn't threatened to kill me in at least two weeks."

"A new record, I assume."

"Yeah, you can say that."

As soon as the reception began, Hinata smiled and wrapped her arms around Gaara's neck. "I love you, Gaara-kun," she said with a smile, resting her head on his shoulder.

He blushed lightly – he couldn't help blushing every time she told him she loved him. But he smiled as well. "I love you too...Hina-chan," he replied, wrapping his arms around her waist.

-

"ZELL!"

Gaara sighed and removed his pen from his mouth, not wanting to choke on it when he got glomped by a frightened little boy.

"Daddy," a little four year old whined as he ran into Gaara's study and clung to his arm. He had long blue hair and white eyes with a slight turquoise tint, and tiny black rings around his eyes from occasional refusal to sleep.

"What, Zell?" Gaara asked, placing the little boy on his knee.

"Mommy hates me."

"What's she doing?"

"Tryin' to give me a bath. I don't want one."

"Sorry, can't help you there," he said with a shrug.

"But Daddy!"

"There you are!" Hinata exclaimed as she stormed into the room and picked Zell up, managing to get Gaara's shirt out of his grip.

She glared at his suppressed laughter. "You wanna do this?" she asked sourly.

"Not particularly," he responded, still trying to keep in his laughter as he leaned up and kissed her cheek.

"Ew," Zell said, making a face. Hinata just smiled.

"Come on, Zell." She managed to give the boy a bath and get him into bed, finding Gaara in his study again.

"Aren't you coming to bed?"

In response, he set down his book and pulled her into his lap. "You look like you've had a tiring day."

"That's because I have! I've had to go shopping, cook, help Ino plan her wedding, take care of Zell all day...while you sit in here doing Kazekage stuff! Maybe we should trade roles once in a while so you can see what it's like taking care of..."

He quieted her with a gentle kiss.

- - - - -

Yes, long-awaited chapter. Give me a break, I'm sick.

Gaara: And yet, that doesn't prevent you from torturing me more.

Hinata: ...

Gaara: Except when it comes to Hinata.

Hinata: I should hope so.

Starr: Anyways, I'm not doing the friendly shoutout show this time, because I am SO SICK. Well, that's all she wrote. Hope you guys liked the story, and will stick around to read my others!


End file.
